Chelsea vs Man United: TV channel, kick-off time, live stream, referee, injury and team news
Manchester United will look to bounce back from a disheartening loss to Leeds United as they travel to Chelsea, looking to extend the gap between them to ten points. The home side, meanwhile, are aiming to end a dismal run that has seen them slide further away from the UEFA Champions League spots.
With much on the line for Michael Carrick and Liam Rosenior, the late kickoff could be a classic.
Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s match:
The match will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate, HBO Max in the UK, Peacock in the U.S., Jio Hotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live coverage.
Lisandro Martínez’s red card on Monday, coupled with the league’s decision to extend Harry Maguire’s suspension by one more match means that Man United could rock up to Stamford Bridge with a 20-year-old and a 19-year-old at the heart of their defence. Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven have tons of talent, but on Saturday they will be under extreme pressure.
In one way, it helps to face an attack that hasn’t scored a goal in the past three league games and have scored just two in their past five games against top division opponents (excluding the seven they fired past Port Vale in the FA Cup). But it doesn’t help that this match comes so hot on the heels of a quite shambolic defensive display (especially in the first half) against Leeds United.
How bad is the run Chelsea are on, you ask?
Well… since March, no side across Europe’s big five leagues have lost more games (all competitions) than Chelsea have coming into this weekend’s set of games (6 defeats in 9). As if to underline the trouble Liam Rosenior is in, the last time Chelsea lost four games in a row without scoring was in Feb./March 1998: and that included a defeat to Man United.
That Rosenior needs to buck this trend to keep his job over the summer is stating the obvious, but he also needs to do it if Chelsea are to harbour any hopes of Champions League football. Currently four points behind fifth-placed Liverpool, they are being hunted by a pack who are much closer: Brentford and Everton are just a point off, Brighton and Sunderland a couple, Bournemouth three. And all of those teams have form on their side.
Enzo Fernández’s return to the squad will help (more on that later), but there are problems across the playing XI (including his wingers misfiring, Cole Palmer going cold, errors across the pitch) that Rosenior needs to solve to right the ship.
Michael Carrick’s honeymoon period at Man United appears well and truly done with. If the loss at Newcastle United could have been brushed off as a blip, the loss at home to Leeds United is a bit more humbling. Carrick’s men have now won just one of their last four matches (1D 2L), after a run in which they had won six (and drawn one) of Carrick’s first seven matches in charge.
Against Leeds, United missed Kobbie Mainoo immensely, leaving their midfield open and without a tempo-setter. He ought to be back for Chelsea, with the club saying he missed Leeds more as a precaution than anything else, and if he does it solves a major headache for Carrick. Further forward, he needs to rediscover the mojo of his front four and find the right combination to pick three out of the four of Amad, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, and Benjamin Sesko all of whom offer such different threats.
Much like Rosenior, Carrick knows his chances of a permanent job rely heavily on how strongly his team finishes the season and he needs to show that this speed bump they have hit is but a temporary one.
Enzo Fernandez has… the joint most shots on target for any Chelsea player in the league this season (27), created the most chances overall (51) and in open play (46) and has completed the most passes in the final third (459). In fact, he leads the league for defensive line-breaking passes (41). All those numbers translate to Fernandez being the most vital cog of Chelsea’s attacking unit — and when he’s not there, they struggle like they did against Man City. After a club-imposed ban for two games, he should be back in selection contention for United, and he ought to walk straight back into the XI.
And that should also immediately make them more of a threat against United, especially with the inexperience of Yoro and Heaven marshalling the back four.
