Chelsea: Four things to look for in top four six pointer

2. Who is in the middle?

For all of the talent Chelsea and Manchester United both have on their wage books, neither side has really landed on an established midfield configuration this season. For United, the problem has mostly been that Solskjaer is spoiled for choice, with a veritable buffet of options ranging from Bruno Fernandes to Fred.

For Chelsea, it has been less about the personnel and more about the system. Frank Lampard never entirely landed on a desired formation or setup, while Tuchel is still tinkering with his own interpretations of his squad. As such, there really isn’t a clear answer as to how Chelsea will deploy the likes of Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and/or Jorginho.

Fortunately for Tuchel and the Blues, Paul Pogba is confirmed to be out for the match, while Scott McTominay and Donny van de Beek are questionable. That limits the potential permutations that Solskjaer could throw out there on Sunday, and it also takes one major creative threat off the board for United. Bruno Fernandes has more than enough skill to make up for Pogba’s absence, but every little bit helps.

On his own team sheet, Tuchel really just has to decide between a midfield two or three. The two-man midfield has worked well enough so far, but the danger of Fernandes might merit having an extra man out there to keep a body close to the Portuguese at all times. This feels like a perfect opportunity for Kante to make his second straight league start since Tuchel took over, but Tuchel’s preferred pairing has been Kovacic and Jorginho so far, so it’s a matter of either changing the system, swapping someone out, or I’m a big idiot and he just goes with Kovacic and Jorginho. All equally possible.

We’ll most likely have our answer as soon as the lineups come out, but it will be abundantly clear whether Tuchel made the right decision within the first few minutes of the match. If Fernandes is already running the show, it’ll be safe to say Tuchel got it wrong. Likewise, if Mason Mount is carrying the ball through the middle while, I don’t know, Nemanja Matic lumbers around to try and keep up, it’ll be egg on Solskjaer’s face. Here’s hoping for the latter.