Chelsea v Manchester United Betting Preview | 07/02/16
Stamford Bridge | KO – 16:00
One word that best describes Chelsea’s and Manchester United’s season so far would be “Cataclysmic”. This year more than most has felt like a “changing of the guards” with Arsenal and Man City racing further ahead of the pact and leaving bitter rivals in their wake.
Both clubs have had incredibly successful managers in Mourinho and Ferguson over the past decade and whoever arrives at their respective clubs in the summer will have a momentous challenge on their hands to try to even come close to what both have achieved in the past.
Fans from both sides have had a real reality check over the past nine months and it could be years before we see either United or Chelsea back to their former glory.
Chelsea’s performances of late have shown signs of improvement under Guus Hiddink. Two wins in the last five games and without losing a game during that time is a step in the right direction.
Chelsea’s new signing Pato can only bolster the side and provide a resurgence to a fairly demoralized side.
The potential loss of John Terry and Cahill in the summer will mean a lot of restructuring at the back and if key players such as Hazard, Oscar and Costa decide to call it a day the team will be unrecognisable come the start off the new season. Will it be a mass-exodus? Only time will tell.
Manchester United fans must still be smarting from the news that their bitter city rivals have made an amazing coup to secure the creme-de-la-creme manager in Pep Guardiola. And it’s twice as damning as at the moment the team look to be clueless under Louis van Gaal who appears to be more interested in picking a fight with journalist’s than working to fix the problem.
Recent couple of wins have only prolonged van Gaal’s inevitable sacking from the club. Though it’s quite clear for everyone to see that if United’s board of directors had somebody lined-up who wanted to take the job on, they would have moved him on months ago. A lack of signings during the January transfer window indicates to me that his time is up and it’s just a matter of time before they find a suitable replacement.
A loss at Stanford Bridge would only intensify the spotlight that’s already on LvG. Both sides have shown improvement over the past few games and do not want any glitches in form to compound things. It’s going to be a slow and painful build-up to the game but Chelsea under new management appears to have the edge going forward. I’d expect to see Chelsea scrap a narrow win but not by much, this one might be worth watching on Match of the Day.