A couple of seasons ago a match between Chelsea and United would have meant almost a certain shift in the top spots of the table. However much has changed since then, the top tier of the table is occupied by Arsenal, Liverpool and City. But the most significant change has to do with the managerial spot. It seems like Mourinho will be returning to his natural habitat, except it won’t be the home he knew a season ago.
All melodrama aside, Mourinho’s a red now and Conte’s the indirect successor to the Portuguese. Chelsea sit in the fifth spot, two points ahead of United. A win for Chelsea would take them level on points with their London rivals, Tottenham. However a win for United will take them to 5th spot, pushing Chelsea down to 6th place. Mourinho would certainly like to prove a point when he returns to his old club, where he won a total of eight titles.
In the modern Premier League era, these two have met a total of 48 times, Chelsea have won a total of sixteen times (10 at home) while United have had the better of Chelsea thirteen times (8 at home). A total of nineteen meetings have gone without a result.
Chelsea will look forward to having their captain, John Terry back after the center back suffered an ankle injury. Conte will have to decide on Oscar and Willian’s place as well, both the teammates just returned after their International duty and have had family issues recently. Chris Smalling will be missing out of the United lineup after he suffered muscular injury midweek against Fenerbache in the Europa League. Henrikh Mkhitaryan will miss the game (doubtful) but is fast approaching fitness.
Chelsea have now been unbeaten against United in the last seven Premier League meetings (3W4D). However United will take inspiration from the stat that Blues have never gone eight matches unbeaten against the Reds. Out of the sixteen Chelsea wins, five were recorded by Mourinho, which is a club record for the manager at the London club.
Conte expects the Blues to give their former manager a warm reception on his return –
“”He was an important manager here. With the club and the players, he wrote a part of the story of this club. He deserves a good reception.” – Conte
“I knew that working in England, staying in the Premier League, I would, sooner or later, have to play against Chelsea and I would have to go to Stamford Bridge. The computer has decided that I have to go now, so we go.” – Mourinho
Many pundits predict that Mourinho understands the strengths and weaknesses of each player he has worked with for so long during his tenure at the Bridge. That being said, the same pundits also predicted that Pep Guardiola would do a number on Barcelona with his City side, but Barcelona schooled City back to their place, letting Guardiola know that his Barcelona team has since moved on and become even more powerful. Will the Blues do the same with Manchester United? We’ll find out on Sunday.
