At 23:00 on April 16th, the 33rd round of the season will see Manchester United host Old Trafford to face Chelsea. 32 rounds of the tournament have been played, with Manchester United ranked fifth with 57 points from 2 fewer matches, and Chelsea topping the list with 75 points from one fewer match. Chelsea are undoubtedly better in terms of opposition, there are no injuries in the team, Conte can send a full-strength lineup to play, and Azhar and Kante have been shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year. Manchester United just finished playing a UEFA Cup game in midweek, and will have to play the second round next midweek. With the team's current ranking in the Premier League, it is undoubtedly a more realistic choice to fight for the UEFA Cup title to be selected as the Champions League winner for the next season, and therefore Mourinho may retain the right strength for the battle this season.
United's debut 89 points, manager's 8 points, total 97 points
Chelsea debutant 97 points, manager 10 points, total 107 points
De Gea (8 points) vs.
Courtois (8 points)
Manchester United's main goalkeeper, De Gea, missed last weekend's Premier League match with Sunderland due to injury, as well as this midweek's UEFA Cup match with Anderlecht, in which Mourinho activated the man Romero. After a break, De Gea should be able to come back this weekend. At present, the news of De Gea's transfer to Real Madrid is still endless, manager Jose Mourinho advised the Spanish international goalkeeper to focus on the work in front of him, and wait until the end of the season before considering other things.
Thanks to Chelsea's strong defense, Courtois' job has been made a lot easier, and he currently leads the Premier League shutout charts with 13, two more than his opposite number, De Gea. In terms of successful saves, the two goalkeepers are tied with 59. The number of goals conceded Courtois is 25, one more than De Gea. Overall, the two of them are evenly matched.
Valencia (9 points) vs.
Azpilicueta (9 points)
Valencia has been one of United's most consistent performers this season, making the Player of the Month shortlist several times. So far he has made 37 tackles, 55 clearances and 39 interceptions, and 137 passes but only 40 of them have been successful, which is a low accuracy rate, even so he still has 1 goal and 3 assists. Valencia also had a crucial goal-line save in the midweek match against Anderlecht.
Azpilicueta was one of three Chelsea players to play in all 31 games and was very consistent. Defensively, Azpilicueta made 50 tackles, 104 clearances and 62 interceptions, while offensively, he created 17 scoring chances for his teammates.
Bayley (7 points) vs.
Louis (8 points)
Affected by injuries, Bailly has only played 18 Premier League games this season, completing 34 tackles, 95 clearances and 46 interceptions, with a one-on-one defensive success rate of 66.7% and a success rate of more than 60% in contested headers. However, in the UEFA Cup in midweek, Bailly failed to effectively assist the defense before the end of the game, leaving Darmian, the thinnest member of the team's backline, exposed to the opposing attackers, and suffering a loss of a victory.
Luiz played 27 times on behalf of Chelsea this season and all of them were starters, accomplished 21 breaks, 143 clearances and 57 interceptions, the overall performance is good, and occasionally can also show the free kick skills, but also harvested a goal. Last round against Bournemouth, Luiz's luck is not good, not only nearly own goal, the opponent's goal is also hit on his body refraction broken net.
Rojo (8 points) vs.
Cahill (9 points)
This will be Argentine defender Rojo's fifth game in 15 days and it has been very hard work indeed physically, but with Jones and Smalling both recovering from injuries and Mourinho not trusting Blind to play at center back, it means that Rojo and Bailly will have to tough it out. Against Anderlecht in midweek, Rojo played 80 good minutes but was mentally unfocused towards the end.
Cahill is the third player in Chelsea's squad to play in all 31 games, apart from Thibaut Courtois and Azpilicueta. The defensive end contributed 30 tackles, 146 clearances and 41 interceptions. It's worth noting that Cahill already has four league goals this season, equaling his total Premier League goals in the last three seasons.
Luke Shaw (8 points) vs.
Moses (9 points)
There are variables in United's starting left back for this campaign, but there are a few reasons why Luke Shaw has a bit more chance of getting the starting nod. Firstly, he had a good game against Sunderland last weekend, finishing with an assist. Secondly, Darmian's physical disadvantage was exposed clearly in the UEFA Cup, facing Moses, Pedro or William's rounds of impact, Italy is not necessarily blocked. Lastly, Mourinho has no center backs left in his hands, so he needs to keep the Blind card in his hands for any emergencies on the field.
Chelsea's biggest gain this season is that after the change of formation 343, Moses and Alonso have unearthed two outstanding wingback players. Moses joined Chelsea in 2012, and has been loaned to Liverpool, Stoke City and West Ham United. Just when people thought he would never develop again, Conte's change of formation gave Moses a new lease of life. In the last round against Bournemouth, Moses completed his comeback, and his performance is still outstanding.
Fellaini (8 points) vs.
Matic (8 points)
In last weekend's 3-0 win over Sunderland, Fellaini, who was awarded the captain's armband, performed well and played a key role in the defense of the midfield. Against Anderlecht in the middle of this week, Mourinho arranged for veteran Carrick to start, with his age of 35 years old, I'm afraid it is difficult to play continuously, so Fellaini is expected to return to the starting list this campaign.
One of Conte's changes for this game is to choose between Matic and Fabregas. From the perspective of the situation, Chelsea is one game ahead of the second-place Tottenham Hotspur 7 points, this game as long as you do not lose will be absolutely acceptable, so from the point of view of the control of the situation, send in the defensive ability of the stronger Matic may be a more secure choice to start.
Herrera (8 points) vs.
Kanter (10 points)
Herrera did not participate in the UEFA Cup match against Anderlecht, mainly because the opponent's attacking power is limited, the arrangement of Carrick a back will be enough, but taking into account the strong strength of Chelsea, it is estimated that Mou Shuai will make adjustments to set out Fellaini and Herrera's double back combination to strengthen the midfield interception and organization ability. As an important link between the front and back of the United field, Herrera completed a total of 1,810 feet of passes, second only to Pogba and ranked second in the team, the whole Premier League is ranked fifth, the offense is harvested 4 assists.
In Chelsea's 31 league games, in addition to a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation, Kante started in 30 games, completing 70 shovel breaks and 65 interceptions, with 1,840 passes ranked second in the team and fourth in the English Premier League, just like the team's offensive and defensive transition pivot. In the professional players union MVP selection, Kante unsurprisingly made the six-man list. It is worth mentioning that Kante has only scored 2 goals in total since joining Chelsea, and the opponents are exactly Manchester United.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (9 points) vs.
Alonso (9 points)
After breaking down Sunderland last weekend, Mkhitaryan scored another goal in the UEFA Cup in midweek, his fourth goal in his last four European away games. After the match, Mourinho criticized four United front players by name for their poor ability to take chances, except for Mkhitaryan, proving that the Portuguese is satisfied with his form.
One of Chelsea's great discoveries this season, along with Moses on the right, Alonso, who earlier played for Bolton and has good footwork and often delivers wonderful crosses, was once considered a washout after his summer move from Fiorentina, but quickly established himself in Conte's 343 formation, silencing his critics with great performances. Against Bournemouth in the last round, Alonso showed off his superb footwork with a beautiful free kick to take his goal tally to five in the Premier League this season.
Pogba (8 points) vs.
Pedro (9 points)
Pogba has scored seven goals in 44 appearances on behalf of Manchester United in all competitions this season, and has also hit the goal frame eight times. In the Premier League, his 2009 passes are second only to Liverpool captain Henderson, and his 73 shots on goal are fourth in the Premier League. But from the data, Pogba's performance can not be said to be bad, but carrying a price tag of 92.5 million pounds, it is reasonable that people have higher expectations of him. This campaign, Mourinho may arrange Herrera and Fellaini to play double back, and let Pogba more involved in the attack, after all, the lack of attacking power has become a constraint on the performance of the United culprits.
Pedro or William? This is where Conte's second trick of the campaign comes in, and judging by the stats, the former is clearly better. After 31 games for Chelsea, Pedro has scored 7 goals and completed 7 assists, which is quite a performance. William, although the number of goals is good with 6, but only 1 assist.
Rashford (8 points) vs.
Hazard (10 points)
Homegrown youngster Rashford scored a goal in last weekend's match with Sunderland, and it was also Rashford whose shot was blocked and then added on by Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the UEFA Cup in midweek. Rashford has scored eight goals in 42 appearances in all competitions this season, but as Mourinho criticized after the match with Anderlecht, if Rashford's ability to take chances had been stronger, the goal tally would have been a double.
In Conte's 343 system, Azhar gets a higher degree of freedom, which helps him play at a higher level. Whether it's distributing the ball to teammates or personally breaking through to shoot, Azhar can give opponents** a huge threat, if Chelsea successfully win the championship, then Azhar to take the season MVP should not matter. In the last round of matches, Azhar scored a beautiful long-distance run, so that the number of individual Premier League goals this season reached 14, tying the record of 13/14 and 14/15 seasons. As a result of his impressive performance, there is news that Real Madrid intends to splash £100 million on King Za in the summer.
Ibrahimovic (8 points) vs.
Costa (8 points)
Ibe has undoubtedly been the only player United have picked up this season, as evidenced by being selected as a candidate for the English professional players' union's player of the year. However, in the UEFA Cup in midweek, Ibe got a rare poor rating, having conceded too many easy goals on the field, and even Mourinho couldn't help but criticize his performance after the match. Still, the man remains the Red Devils' most threatening weapon, and in his last 17 Premier League matches, Ibe has been directly involved in 18 of his team's goals, including 13 goals and five assists.
Despite being Chelsea's top scorer, the last time Costa scored in the league was on March 6 against West Ham United. Last weekend against Bournemouth, Costa played very hard, and also caused the opponent's goal, but the result is still unable to break the drought, four consecutive games without scoring is also his worst performance in the Premier League. In addition, the Daily Mail said the team Tianjin Quanjian still want to get Costa, and is willing to contribute 90 million pounds.
Mourinho (8 points) vs.
Conte (10 points)
After beating Sunderland 3-0 in the last round, United's undefeated EPL matches have risen to 21, but there are 10 draws among them, which is the main reason why the team is ranked at the back of the pack. It is worth mentioning that the last time United lost in the Premier League was the first round of the season against Chelsea, when the Red Devils lost 0-4 on the road, and if you add the 0-1 defeat against the Blues, Mourinho lost both times against his old boss, netting five goals and failing to score a single goal.
With a seven-point lead over second-place Tottenham Hotspur with one game less to play, Chelsea's title situation is in good shape, and as long as they get past Manchester United, the Blues will have no strong teams to stop them in the latter part of their schedule. If this battle can win, Conte will become the 93/94 season after Hoddle, 2004/05 season of Mourinho, and 09/10 season of Carlo Ancelotti, the fourth single-season double kill Manchester United's Chelsea manager. In addition, the two sides' head-to-head record is also in favor of Conte's team, the Blues' last eight Premier League matches against the Red Devils achieved four wins and four draws undefeated record.
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