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Chelsea V Manchester United

February 5, 2012 by · Comments Off on Chelsea V Manchester United 

Chelsea V Manchester United, Chelsea vs Manchester United Preview February 5th 2012:
Manchester United will be attempting to stay level with league-leading Manchester City when they take on fourth-place Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in London on Feb. 5. United has 54 points on the season from 17 wins, three draws and three losses.

Chelsea has 42 points from 12 wins, six draws and five losses and needs a win here to stay ahead of Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool for the last Champions League berth for next season. United is currently three points behind City for top of the table honors.

Chelsea has been dropping too many points lately for a run at the English Premier League title and they’re just hanging onto fourth place in the table. They’ve been drawing too many games, dropping a pair of points each time they do. Manager Andre Villas-Boas has been making most of the right moves and substitutions, but glaring errors have hurt the club on the pitch. Many fans feel the squad is getting old, but there are plenty of youngsters here such as Juan Mata, Oriol Romeu, and Daniel Sturridge,

One of Chelsea’s biggest problems of late has been scoring goals. The only time they’ve scored more than one in a league game since December came against the woeful Wolverhampton Wanderers. They managed a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw against Swansea during the week. Manchester United suffered a rough patch with league losses against Blackburn and Newcastle, but seem to be over that now, even though Liverpool put them out of the FA Cup last weekend with a 2-1 win at Anfield. United bounced back in the league with a 2-0 win over Stoke on Tuesday.

It looks like Chelsea will likely have to play without the services of captain John Terry, who was stripped of the England captaincy this week, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Salomon Kalou, John Obi Mikel, Ramires, Didier Drogba, and Ashley Cole. Drogba and Kalou are away at the 
African Cup of Nations while Cole is suspended.

As usual, Manchester United has a pretty lengthy injury list and they’ll probably be missing goaltender Anders Lindegaard, defenders Nemanja Vidic and Phil Jones, winger Ashley Young, midfielders Darren Fletcher, Tom Cleverley, and Anderson as well as striker Michael Owen. However, Wayne Rooney is expected back in the squad after missing the last two games. Ben Amos played against Stoke on Tuesday and kept a clean sheet as both Lindegaard and David de Gea weren’t available. Cleverly and Young could possibly make the bench.

Antonio Valencia and Paul Scholes have been playing well for United lately while Fernando Torres has still been a huge bust at Chelsea. Lampard was playing well for the London club and scoring some goals for them along the way until he got injured. However, neither of these teams is really the greatest defensively and United is weakened even more each time Rio Ferdinand plays.

Chelsea v Man Utd Betting Predictions
United hasn’t won at Stamford Bridge in their last nine league games there, but have won 29, lost 22 and drawn 18 over the years. They’re also the best road team in the EPL this season, meaning Chelsea has their work cut out for them. This is a huge game for both teams, but going on recent form this could end up in a draw with both teams dropping two valuable points.

Sportsbook William Hill has the latest odds of a Chelsea victory listed at 17/10 with a Man United win at 7/4 and a draw at 2/1.

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