Chelsea may be one point ahead of Manchester United in the Premier League table, but we are 0-for-3 in head-to-head meetings.
Chelsea started the season with a 4-0 loss at Old Trafford, halving that scoreline in the reverse matchup at Stamford Bridge, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. In between, the Blues also managed to lose to Manchester United in the League Cup, ending that trip in the second hurdle. At least we scored a goal in that one, with eight at the other end in all three games combined.
We are certainly owed a victory against the group in the form of Solksjær, although of course the victories are not delivered simply by statistical regression. Instead, Chelsea will have to do it the old-fashioned way, on the field.
This is a rematch of the 2018 FA Cup Final and the best chance for any team to win a trophy this season (although United is also a favorite in the Europa League).
Date and Time: Sunday, July 19, 2020, 6:00 p.m. BST; 1pm EDT; 10:30 pm IST
Venue of events: Wembley, London, England
Referee: Mike Dean (in the field); Michael Oliver (VAR)
Forecast: Rainy, windy, cool: a perfect English summer day
On TV: BBC One (United Kingdom); none (U.S); Sony TEN 2, TEN 3 (India); SuperSport 1, SuperSport 5 (NGA); elsewhere
Transmission: BBC iPlayer (UK); ESPN + (USA); Sony LIV (India); DStv Now (NGA) – We (WAGNH) have a affiliate link for ESPN + if you’re in the US and want to sign up for the best value on sports streaming (or, if you’re like me, sign up for the Disney-Hulu-ESPN + package).
Manchester United team news: United is missing a quartet of nonessential players, including Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams and Luke Shaw. Shaw is probably a bit more essential than the other three, but the less-seen Timothy Fosu-Mensah replaced without too much trouble against Crystal Palace week, and United also has £ 20m Diogo Dalot.
It seems that United has not lost forever, and the reality is quite close to that. His last loss was in mid-January, 19 games ago and 14 wins, in all competitions.
Solskjær got the team to purr as well as it did last year after replacing José Mourinho and getting good performances from most of his key players, including Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire and David de Gea. Mason Greenwood has almost as many goals (16) in all competitions as his age (18), and even Paul Pogba has his back turned and apparently committed to the cause.
Oh, and they get all the calls, like always.
Basically there’s a good reason why United is the fit team right now and they’re also the favorites of consensus bookmakers.
View from the enemy: The busby babe
Chelsea team news: In a classic case of youth inconsistency, Chelsea have largely played to the level of competition. We have played close to or even defeated Manchester City and Liverpool, but lost twice to West Ham, just to name one example. The games against Manchester United seem to be an exception to that, as Chelsea have barely reached the required levels in any of our three games so far this season.
If we are going to do it differently tomorrow, we will have to do it without N’Golo Kanté, which is not just a big big mistake in midfield, it’s also a potential problem on the score sheet. Kanté has scored 2 of his 11 goals for Chelsea against United, including the only goal in the 2016-17 FA Cup quarterfinals.
Who replaces Kanté is a constant and divisive issue. The wonderful teenager Billy Gilmour succumbed to the sirens of knee surgery and we were able to fill 7000 words talking only about Jorginho; in fact, we did. While Chelsea have had an extra two days off compared to United, we have a great game on Wednesday, Liverpool’s coronation at Anfield, which still matters a lot to us for the top four.
Previously: Eden Hazard, who is still making some money at Chelsea these days, also scored the only goal in the 2018 FA Cup Final. We haven’t beaten United since (0-2-4; 4:13).
