Chelsea vs. Man U predictions: Blues have advantages of desire, momentum
Chelsea travel to the red side of Manchester for a six-point game against their favourite frenemy. We make our predictions for a massive top-four clash.
Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho seem to be taking the “let our football do the talking for us” approach to today’s game. Neither man took the bait in the pre-match press conferences to reignite their public feud from the first half of the season. Par for the course for Conte to take the high ground, but a bit unusual for Mourinho. Perhaps he can only handle so many feuds at a time, and Paul Pogba is monopolizing his passive-aggressive attention.
In any event, some predictions for a day at Old Trafford.
Scott Brant: Manchester United 1 – 2 Chelsea. The wheels on Mourinho’s bus could begin to come off with a loss to the better man who replaced him. Conte will no doubt have something up his sleeve, as I’m sure Mourinho will also. But the Chelsea players want it more for their manager. They finish strong by getting a late goal to win it and pull the Blues level with on points with United.
Shivansh Sareen: 1 – 3. Alvaro Morata restores the fans’ faith in him by scoring a brace. Olivier Giroud adds a third before Anthony Martial gets a consolation for United.
Kevin Peacock: 0 – 3. The moral victory Chelsea achieved against Barcelona and Antonio Conte’s desire to beat Jose Mourinho more than any other man will see Chelsea go on the offensive from the start. This game could well be out of United’s reach by half-time. Not even Mourinho’s red bus can prevent it. Morata and Willian score first half goals before Giroud wraps the victory up.
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Barrett Rouen: 0 – 2. Chelsea are in precisely the sort of corner they have proven to be most dangerous in at the moment. The players are tired of having a new boss constantly. They like Conte. They want to prove a point for him. And they want to prove they are not just a group of useless, lay-about, overpaid, lazy clowns and actually a group of decent footballers. United are in the middle of a tiff between stars and manager, as well, and it will get worse before it gets better. Either that or Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez actually show they’re worth the money.
Hugo Amaya: 1 – 2. The Blues know they are the better team and will show it the entire game. In the meantime, United are still having nightmares about their game against Sevilla. Mourinho will try to bring his team out to actually play football, but only score one goal towards the end of the game. Conte will show he is the better man and his players will continue the good run of form.
Abhishek Pancholi: 0 – 3. Jose Mourinho has moved into Phase III of his usual cycle earlier than usual and Conte would love to pile more pressure on him. Whether Chelsea go with a false-nine or a proper striker, it will be too much to handle for United’s lumbering defence. Be on the lookout for sprinklers going off on the pitch when Conte heads to the away section to salute the fans after the game.
Daniel Mcclue: 0 – 0. Chelsea have a hangover from a terrific performance against Barcelona, while United have a hangover from boring Sevilla to death. People are expecting fireworks on and off the pitch but absolutely nothing happens. Go for the over on the amount of times the camera pans to someone yawning in the crowd.
Next: Chelsea must be ready for Jose Mourinho to come out with ambition for a win