
Jose
Mourinho will make his first return to Stamford Bridge as Manchester United
manager as his side take on Chelsea on Super Sunday.
The Portuguese manager had two successful spells as Blues boss, but was
dismissed by the club ten months ago before moving to Old Trafford in the
summer.
United will play their third game in less than a week live on Sky Sports,
with a goalless draw with Liverpool on Monday before registering a 4-1
victory over Fernabache in the Europa League on Thursday.
Chelsea have also won their last two Premier League games while keeping
clean sheets, including a 3-0 victory over current champions Leicester last
Saturday.
The Blues also have a good recent record against their opponents having not
lost any of their last seven league games against United (W3 D4).
Team news
Chris Smalling will be assessed ahead of Sunday's game after coming off at
half-time on Thursday due to what United have described as a minor muscular
injury.
Mourinho also said on Thursday that playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was
absent from the matchday squad for an eighth straight game, will be "ready
very soon to play" having recovered from a thigh injury.
Chelsea will make a late decision over whether to field Willian following
the death of his mother while Oscar has also been away following a family
bereavement, but
John Terry is avaliable another full week of training following an ankle
injury but Cesc Fabregas (thigh) and defender Branislav Ivanovic, who has a
minor injury to an undisclosed muscle, are out.
Elsewhere, Kurt Zouma is set to return to first-team training next week
following his long-term knee injury.
Match stats
Manchester United have lost more Premier League fixtures against Chelsea
than any other side (16).
Of those 16 Chelsea wins against Manchester United, five were recorded by
Jose Mourinho, more than any other boss for the Blues.
Jose Mourinho lost just one league game at Stamford Bridge between 2004/05
and 2014/15 (W76 D21). He then lost four of his final eight games there in
2015/16 (W3 D1).
The only time in his career Mourinho has managed an opposition side at
Stamford Bridge was with Inter Milan in March 2010, knocking out Chelsea in
the Champions League.
David Luiz has twice scored against Manchester United in the Premier League
but his only own goal is against the Red Devils.
Wayne Rooney has gone six Premier League games without scoring against
Chelsea, this after converting two penalties against them in February 2012.
Manchester United have won just one of their last eight Premier League trips
to London (W1 D3 L4).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored against Chelsea in both of his appearances against
them last season in the Champions League.
After scoring with four of his first 15 shots in the Premier League,
Ibrahimovic has failed to find the net with any of his last 26 in the
competition.
Diego Costa has scored seven times in his opening eight league games this
season. Only two Chelsea players have scored more goals in their first eight
matches of a campaign - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2001/02 (8) and Diego
Costa himself in 2014/15 (9).
This season, Jose Mourinho has registered his lowest points total (14) after
his first eight league games with a new club since his stint with Uniao de
Leiria (10 points).
Since his debut in August 2012, Eden Hazard has scored more Premier League
goals than any other midfielder in the competition (44).
Merson's prediction
I'm going to go 1-0 Chelsea. I think they'll have just a little bit more
than what Liverpool had in attempting to break United down.
People had a go at United on Monday. What do you expect? They got a point.
This is not the Manchester United of the 1990s, this is the Manchester
United of now. It's not that football has changed, it's that the team isn't
good enough.
I don't think they're good enough to mix it at the moment. I think Jose
Mourinho knows that, he set his team up, and they didn't lose. It was a
great result.
He will 100 per cent do the same at Stamford Bridge. If they have a shot,
and Chelsea have a shot, there's only one winner, and that's Chelsea by
quite a few. Mourinho won't go there and want to open the game up in that
way.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-0 (13/1 with Sky Bet)