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Manchester United’s inconsistent season took it’s latest turn on Sunday on the Red Devils were beaten by Newcastle at St. James’ Park. Erik ten Hag’s men went into that match on the back of three consecutive wins in the Premier League but must now rebuild as they look to push towards the top four.
United host Chelsea in one of tonight’s midweek offerings and will be hoping to move closer to the Champions League spots by defeating the Blues at Old Trafford. For their part, Mauricio Pochettino’s side rediscovered their form in a 3-2 defeat of Brighton at the weekend and will be keen to replicate that result this evening.
Chelsea are currently 10th in the table and still trying to gel under the Argentine who is yet to truly put his stamp on the team. A landmark win against Manchester United will build confidence in the squad and set the Blues up nicely for the rest of the festive period.
Follow all the action from Old Trafford below plus get the latest odds and tips below:
Team News – Chelsea
Reece James is only on the bench for Chelsea.
Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Disasi, Thiago Silva, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Sterling, Mudryk; Jackson.
Team News – Manchester United
No Marcus Rashford in the Manchester United starting XI tonight – Erik ten Hag opts for Antony and Alejandro Garnacho out wide.
Manchester United XI: Onana; Dalot, Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw; Amrabat, McTominay; Antony, Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund.
Manchester United vs Chelsea
Not too far away now from both sides confirming their line-ups – and some media reports suggest that Marcus Rashford may well be on the Manchester United bench. We’ll know for certain soon enough…
Mauricio Pochettino struggling to understand new Premier League rules
Chelsea welcome back Reece James and Marc Cucurella from suspension this evening, but will be missing Conor Gallagher after his sending off against Brighton. Mauricio Pochettino’s side are the most booked team in the league, which the manager puts down to rules that he finds “difficult to understand”.
Difficult to understand new rules – Mauricio Pochettino
The Chelsea boss has seen his side pick up a league-high 47 bookings this season.
Sky Sports and TNT Sports seal deal for Premier League TV rights
This fixture, and indeed all of the Premier League action tonight and tomorrow, will be available to viewers in the United Kingdom on Amazon Prime. But the English top flight’s relationship with the broadcaster will not continue beyond 2025: Sky Sports and TNT Sports have struck a £6.7bn deal, with Amazon understood not to have bid for either of the packages available.
Premier League strikes £6.7bn record TV deal – with one key change to live games
Every match outside of Saturday 3pm kick-offs will now be shown live
Chelsea seek to build on Brighton win
It should, though, be noted that Manchester United have been more successful this season than their opponents. It’s been an uneven start to Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea premiership, with injuries, unavailability and inconsistency plaguing the former Tottenham boss, but the weekend win at Brighton offered plenty of encouragement.
Mauricio Pochettino buoyed by desire and unity shown by Chelsea in Brighton win
The Blues beat Brighton 3-2 despite playing the whole second half with a man less.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe deal set to be announced
In better news for the Old Trafford club, we are expecting confirmation to come early next week that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has completed a deal for a minority stake in Manchester United.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Man Utd share purchase set to be announced early next week
The Glazer family first announced a strategic review, which included the possibility of selling the club, more than a year ago.
Erik ten Hag must accept reality and create siege mentality to get Manchester United back on track
So what does Erik ten Hag do now? Richard Jolly thinks forging a siege mentality may not be the worst idea, but the club need to accept the reality of the situation ahead of a crucial period of fixtures against some of the Premier League’s top sides.
Erik ten Hag must accept reality to get Manchester United back on track
Wins have only come against bottom-half clubs; now the Red Devils face a tough run against those around and above them
Erik ten Hag accuses reporters of ‘going around our back'
And here is what Erik ten Hag had to say on the matter.
Manchester United ban reporters from pre-match press conference
It’s been another weird week in a season full of them at Manchester United, with the club taking action against a number of media outlets that reported that Erik ten Hag had lost the faith of the dressing room. Four reporters were banned from Ten Hag’s press conference yesterday.
The Independent’s Richard Jolly was there, though, and has the full story:
Erik ten Hag and United hit back over reports manager has lost dressing room
Both the club and the manager are defiant in the wake of news stories claiming some United players are unhappy with his methods
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