Chelsea’s trip to Old Trafford for Manchester United’s first Premier League game in the post Erik ten Hag era is the highlight fixture of the weekend in England.
The Blues arrive to the contest on the heels of back-to-back clashes against Newcastle United. Enzo Maresca’s men were superior and defeated the Magpies at Stamford Bridge in the EPL last Sunday, climbing back up to fifth on the table. However, Chelsea was outplayed at St. James’ Park and saw its Carabao Cup campaign end with a 0–2 defeat.
Wednesday’s poor showing on Tyneside surely won’t have helped players that are struggling to find more minutes in the league. Maresca will likely revert to his preferred EPL starting XI in his quest to lead the Blues to its first league win at the Theatre of Dreams since 2013.
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GK: Robert Sánchez—The Spaniard is still prone to provoke a scare or two a game but he remains Maresca’s preferred option between the sticks.
RB: Malo Gusto— A fully fit Reece James didn’t relegate the Frenchman to the bench as many expected. He appears to have beaten Marc Cucurella for a spot in the starting XI.
CB: Wesley Fofana—A poor showing from Benoît Badiashile and Tosin Adarabioyo midweek highlighted just how crucial Fofana has become to Chelsea’s back line.
CB: Levi Colwill—Colwill has improved leaps and bounds in his sophomore season with the Blues, but he was careless in his marking and was partially to blame for Alexander Isak’s goal last weekend.
LB: Reece James—It was a surprise to see the captain on the left side of the formation last week but he was brilliant in his second game since his return from injury.
CM: Moisés Caicedo—Chelsea’s midfield anchor has the most combined tackles and interceptions in the young Premier League season with 48.
CM: Roméo Lavia—The Belgian has usurped Enzo Fernández’s place in the starting XI. Lavia’s physicality and strength are qualities Maresca highlighted as reasons for his consecutive league starts partnering Caicedo in midfield.
RW: Noni Madueke—Madueke looked adventurous and confident in his midweek cameo, being Chelsea’s main source of danger in his second half.
AM: Cole Palmer—Palmer scored his first professional hat-trick the last time Chelsea played Manchester United in a thrilling 4–3 comeback win in stoppage time for the Blues.
LW: Pedro Neto— Jadon Sancho is unavailable for this fixture and Neto seems to be the favored replacement after setting up Nicolas Jackson for the opener a week ago.
ST: Nicolas Jackson—Jackson seems to be improving by the game, scoring in Chelsea’s last two league matches. He’s got nine goal contributions in nine games in his sophomore season in the EPL.
