Stamford Bridge @19:45 local time.
Stamford Bridge is the place to be on Tuesday night as Manchester United take on Chelsea in a potential title decider in the Barclays Premier League. The fixture had to postponed from its original date in mid-December to the 1st of March due to incessant snow all over England. Chelsea haven't improved a great deal in the intermittent period and have only been cast further away from the top of the table, a full 15 points behind leaders United. United won only their fourth away game this season at Wigan on Saturday, routing the Latics 4-0 thanks to a Javier Hernandez brace.
Chelsea weren't involved in the Premier League over the weekend courtesy of the Carling Cup final, as they were scheduled to play Birmingham, and in their last outing they beat FC Copenhagen 2-0 in the 1st leg of their Champions League tie. United's last victory at the Bridge was a 3-0 triumph way back in 2002 and Sir Alex Ferguson has reiterated his desire to improve their poor record against Chelsea. United have form on their side and with Arsenal hunting down their necks they cannot afford any slip ups. Chelsea have struggled against quality opposition all season and are lacking in confidence. Games between the two giants are always tight affairs with a moment of magic or defensive mistake making the difference and expect a similarly cagey affair on Tuesday night.
●Chelsea
The defending champions bounced back from their loss to Everton in the FA Cup with a comfortable victory over Copenhagen in Europe. Nicolas Anelka was the star of the show, scoring a brace to help his side put one foot into the quarter-finals. All the talk pre-match was about Fernando Torres but the Frenchman stole the limelight with his clinical finishing. But too much can't be read into the victory against a much weaker opposition and Carlo Ancelotti will be keenly aware that Manchester United on Tuesday night will be a challenge on a completely different level.
The arrival of Torres has raised more questions than answers. From what we seen so far, fitting Didier Drogba and Torres in the same line up will take some doing. Both strikers prefer to lead the line, thus forcing Ancelotti to choose between the pair, with the willing runner Anelka in support. The other area of concern has been in midfield where they have been devoid of creativity, struggling to break open defences with their narrow formation. Like Liverpool proved earlier this year, the easiest way to stop Chelsea is by stopping their full backs from attacking. Without the full backs for support, Chelsea are forced to play down the centre which makes them very predictable and easy to defend against. The only way they can trouble United is by getting at their full backs and pulling Vidic and Smalling wide to allow the likes of Lampard and Michael Essien to make runs into the box.
●Manchester United
The Red Devils began the vital week of fixtures, which Sir Alex called the 'acid test' of the team's title credentials, by regaining their four-point lead over Arsenal with a comfortable win at Wigan. The 4-0 score line did flatter United a bit considering Wigan had two wonderful opportunities either side of the opener from Hernandez and were only denied by the brilliant Edwin van der Sar. The positives from the game included yet another impressive performance by Chris Smalling alongside the imperious Nemanja Vidic, Nani's consistency and the finishing talents of Chicharito. On the downside, the midfield still looked flat and pallid while Wayne Rooney, in spite of getting a late goal never commanded the front line while continuing to struggle with his touch.
Chelsea will provide a different challenge to the leaders, especially with their physicality in midfield. Carlo Ancelotti will pack his midfield in order to stifle United and force the wingers to cut in field. So United must counter this by switching the ball down to the wide players on every possible occasion and put constant pressure on Chelsea's full backs. Nani, with his pace and power, will be the vital outlet for United in attack. The Portuguese sits atop the Premier League assists charts and has now entered double digits on the goal front too. In midfield, Darren Fletcher's energy will be vital to stopping Frank Lampard while Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes will need to pass the ball better and more importantly, switch the play much quicker. Dimitar Berbatov brings a sense of equanimity and order to United's play in the final third but the top scorer in the League tends to lose his place to Rooney for the big games and he'll hoping he can get an opportunity to display his talents against the bigger sides this time around.
Probable Line Ups:
Ancelotti has a near full strength squad to select from. Yuri Zhirkov has recovered and Yossi was training too.
Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar, O'Shea, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov
United have no new injury worries going into the game and should have Ryan Giggs back into the starting line up after the Welshman recovered from his knock. At the back, Van der Sar will be in goal while Smalling & Vidic cover central defence. John O'Shea has been preferred to Rafael da Silva in recent weeks, mainly due to the absence of Rio Ferdinand while Patrice Evra will start in his usual position down at left back. The midfield composition will be an interesting one and it remains to be seen if Sir Alex picks a three-man central midfield, like he often does in big games, or goes in with a traditional 4-4-2. Chelsea's struggles might give Sir Alex the confidence to go in with just Fletcher and Scholes in the centre to accommodate Berbatov and Rooney up front with Giggs and Nani playing down the wings.
http://www.thesportscampus.com/2011022710704/english-premiership/premirer-league-preview-chelsea-vs-manchester-united
●Head-to-Head:
Chelsea---------------------ManU
26------------Played----------27
45------------Points-----------60
13---------------Won----------17
6--------------Drawn----------9
7---------------Lost------------1
46------------Scored----------61
22------------Conceded------25
5---------League Position----1
●Recent Meetings:
8th August, 2010: Man Utd 3-1 Chelsea
3rd April, 2010: Man Utd 1-2 Chelsea
●Form Guide:
Chelsea: WDDLW
22nd Feb, 2011: Copenhagen 0-2 Chelsea (Champions League)
19th Feb, 2011: Chelsea 1-1 Fulham (3-4 on Penalties) (FA Cup)
14th Feb, 2011: Fulham 0-0 Chelsea
6th Feb, 2011: Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool
1st Feb, 2011: Sunderland 2-4 Chelsea
Man Utd: WDWWL
26th Feb, 2011: Wigan 0-4 Man Utd
23rd Feb, 2011: Marseille 0-0 Man Utd (Champions League)
19th Feb, 2011: Man Utd 1-0 Crawley (FA Cup)
12th Feb, 2011: Man Utd 2-1 Man City
5th Feb, 2011: Wolves 2-1 Man Utd
My Team
-----------------------Cech---------------------------
Ivanovic-------Luiz--------Terry-----------Cole--
---------------------Essien---------------------------
Ramires-----------Lampard---------------Zhirkov-
--------------Anelka----------Torres----------------
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