Chelsea vs. Manchester United – England Premier League Match Preview, Stamford Bridge London England, 1 PM EST Sunday October 28, 2012
By Jason Green, Soccer Handicapper, Predictem.com
Match Odds: Chelsea 2.40 / Manchester United 2.87 / Draw 3.40
Moneyline: Chelsea +140 / Manchester United +188 / Draw +240
Over/Under: 2.5 goals
Chelsea sits in first place in the England Premier League table with Manchester United tied with Manchester City in 2nd place 4 points behind. Chelsea has yet to lose this season with 7 wins and 1 draw, but they are coming off a loss in their last match in the Champions League.
Manchester United needed a late goal to come out on top in their Champions League match this week. Their offense has been en fuego as of late with 10 goals in their last 3 matches. Robin Van Persie has not missed a beat since coming over from Arsenal before the season began and after winning the EPL scoring title last season he is tied with 2 other players for the league lead this season.
Chelsea has a good offense with 19 goals on the season, which is the 2nd most in the EPL, but their defense has been great only conceding 6 goals and that is the fewest in the EPL. OK, so the Blues have the league’s 2nd highest scoring team and the highest scoring team is Manchester United.
Last season these 2 rivals split their season series with each winning on their home pitch.
The Big news for the Blues lately is that John Terry may be on the move and Valencia has already tabled an offer for him. Not only is Terry out for this match, but Chelsea will also be without MF Frank Lampard because of an injury.
While Manchester United has been playing great on offense their defense has conceded 4 goals in their last 2 matches.
Chelsea’s defense may have one big goal in this game and that is to bottle up Robin Van Persie, as no other Man U player has more than 2 goals on the season.
Chelsea Recent Form
10/29/2012 Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2 (Premier League)
11/2/2012 FC Nordsjlland 0 Chelsea 4 (Champions League)
11/6/2012 Chelsea 4 Norwich City 1 (Premier League)
10/6/2012 Tottenham 2 Chelsea 4 (Premier League)
11/32/2012 Shakhtar Donetsk 2 Chelsea 1 (Champions League)
Manchester United Recent Form
10/29/2012 Manchester United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Premier League)
11/2/2012 CFR Cluj-Napoca 1 Manchester United 2 (Champions League)
11/7/2012 Newcastle United 0 Manchester United 3 (Premier League)
11/20/2012 Manchester United 4 Stoke City 2 ( Premier League)
11/23/2012 Manchester United 3 Braga 2 (Champions League)
The Manchester United defense has not looked good in the last few matches and I think Branislav Ivanovic (3 goals), Fernando Torres (4 goals), and Juan Mata (3 goals) need to take advantage of that. You know Man U will be up for this HUGE rivalry match, but I think their D will continue to look out of form and I see them giving up at least 2 goals.
Petr Cech is still one of the best goalies in the world, but he has not played well in his last couple of matches. While I do not see him keeping a clean sheet he will only concede 1 goal and the Blues’ defense will keep Van Persie from scoring.
Man U has 3 players with 2 goals in Rafael, Shinji Kagawa, Nani, and Wayne Rooney and I see one of these guys scoring.
Manchester United has to play well in the midfield and that area of the field is where they cannot allow Chelsea to jump on the offensive attack since the Man U defense has been sketchy lately.
Man U likes to make long runs on the side of the pitch, but I think Chelsea with thwart that aspect of the match.
Jason’s Pick to Win: The Blues are tough to beat at Stamford Bridge and while this match will be a close one I see Chelsea controlling the clock, playing great defense, and taking advantage of scoring chances. Chelsea will win this game by a score of 2-1 or 3-1 and they will extend their lead over Man U in the England Premier League.