Manchester United are at Stamford Bridge this evening to take on Chelsea in the fifth round of this season’s FA Cup.
Both teams will be competing to join Watford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Millwall, Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace and Swansea City in the quarter-finals.
Chelsea were 2-1 winners at Malmo in the Europa League on Thursday night but their last game domestically was a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Manchester City last Sunday.
Maurizio Sarri’s future has come under question in recent weeks making this a vital game for the Blues manager.
Here’s the Chelsea team I think the Italian will name to face us:
Goalkeeper: Kepa Arrizabalaga
Expect Chelsea to name a first team this evening as it’s a must win for their manager. Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga can be expected to keep Willy Caballero out of the starting lineup.
Defence: Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, David Luiz, Marcos Alonso
Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz is the centre-back partnership. Hopefully we can get the better of the latter who isn’t the best defensively. Marcos Alonso loves to bomb forward from the left so hopefully our right-back and right forward can exploit any space left behind by the Spaniard. Chelsea’s two full-backs do deliver good balls into the opposition box though.
Midfield: Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic
Jorginho plays as Chelsea’s deepest midfielder and hopefully Paul Pogba can get the better of the Italian international. In possession, Jorginho plays a very basic game of short passes over and over again. N’Golo Kante is the most energetic player in the Premier League and plays a more advanced role these days – he’s scored against us in the past too. I can see Mateo Kovacic coming in for Ross Barkley to start in midfield.
Attack: Pedro, Gonzalo Higuain, Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard is the star player – don’t be surprised if Ander Herrera is given the job of man marking the Belgian. We could also do with cutting off the supply to January signing Gonzalo Higuain – the Argentine striker is one of the best finisher’s in world football. Pedro could start ahead of Willian down the right wing.
Here’s the Chelsea team on paper:
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