Sheffield United vs Chelsea: Match Preview, Team News & Prediction

Chelsea gave its fans a match to remember the last time at Stamford Bridge as they finally beat Manchester United at Stamford Bridge by 4-3 with Cole Palmer again proving pivotal for this side. As for Sheffield United, their stay in the English top flight seems to be coming to an end as they lost to Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield despite keeping the title contenders at bay for most of the game and even scoring the equalizer to give the fans some hope, only for Mac Allister to steal it away with another goal of the season contender.

Pre-Match Analysis:

In a match which had a lot on the line for both Chelsea and Manchester United's manager, it certainly lived up to its hype as Mauricio Pochettino came on top with a frantic 4-3 victory at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea started in the best way possible by gaining a two goal lead in 20 minutes through Conor Gallagher and Cole Palmer but soon a misplaced pass from Moises Caicedo let the Red Devils back in the game with Alejandro Garnacho scoring to make the scoreline 2-1. This gave the visitors some momentum and five minutes later Bruno Fernandes equalized to make it 2-2. Second half remained the same as the Blues were completely open at the back and with Manchester United too not in the best shape, it soon became a basketball match. The Manchester side then took the lead for the first time in the game as some dodgy defending from Benoit Badiashille let Anthony through, who crossed the ball for Alejandro Garnacho to score their third. It all looked doom and gloom for Mauricio Pochettino but right at the final few minutes of the game, Noni Madueke came on from the bench to win the penalty which was calmly converted by Cole Palmer. Just as everyone thought the game had ended, Chelsea had another attack in them and with some smart play from Enzo Fernandez by playing the corner quickly to Cole Palmer, the visitors were caught off guard and conceded in the last minute of the game to pile on the misery at Eric Ten Hag.

As for Sheffield United who played Liverpool at Anfield, everyone thought they stood no chance but for the first hour the visitors played well and even equalized to make it 1-1. But Liverpool were in no mood to mess up their title race as they soon took the lead through Mac Allister's long range effort and killed off the game with Cody Gakpo putting the game out of the visitors hands. The head to head record is suprisingly only just in favour of the London club with them winning six out of the eleven games that they have played together. In the last five games, Chelsea have had the upper hand with three wins and the Blades having the famous victory at Bramall Lane in 2020. Last time out, Chelsea came out comfortable winners with Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson scoring in the second half. Since then, both the teams have had contrasting seasons with Chelsea struggling for consistency until recently as they are now unbeaten in their last six games in all competitions whereas United are winless in their last six.

Team News:

Both the teams have quite a few injuries to cope with but Chelsea have had Carney Chukwuemeka and Trevor Chalobah return to action in Thursday's win against Manchester United, while Robert Sanchez has resumed training this week. The like of Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Christopher Nkunku, Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu and Levi Colwill are still out with injuries with Ben Chilwell is still doubtful due to his recent illness. Nicolas Jackson and Moises Caicedo are both a yellow card away from a two-match ban.

For Sheffield United, Gus Hamer will be monitored after the loss at Liverpool but Chris Wilder is "hopeful" the midfielder will be able to play. Cameron Archer is back in contention after recovering from a recent calf complaint but long term injuries to George Baldock, Chris Basham, Rhian Brewster, John Egan, Daniel Jebbison, Max Lowe and Rhys Norrington Davis set to miss the game.

Prediction:

Chelsea's season has been so inconsistent that if they go on to drop points at Bramall Lane, not many of the fans will be very much suprised. Sheffield United being at the bottom of the league table with 15 points and being 10 points away from safety, have to start winning games to have any chance of surviving the relegation. Chris Wilder's side will definetly take positives from the Liverpool game and motivate his side to be compact in defence and try to break on the counter to get at CFC. The team who scores the first goal will most certainly go on to win the game and if United take the lead then you can expect Mauricio Pochettino's side to be in trouble and drop points. For Chelsea, every game is importnat in their bid for the European spots as they are now only five points away from sixth place Manchester United who face Liverpool next and five points away from West Ham but have three games in hand to them. This can potentially be a banana peel for the Blue' latest form but seeing how bad Sheffield United are, the Blues have to win this game to save their pride.

Sheffield United 1-3 Chelsea