Following a decisive victory against Tottenham Hotspur midweek, Manchester United travel to Stamford bridge to challenge Chelsea in what is likely to be yet another crucial match in the campaign for the top four.
With near-identical records, Manchester United are currently just one point behind Chelsea, who sit in 4th on the Premier League table.
Erik ten Hag will be hoping that his side can pull off another statement performance and come away with back-to-back wins against fellow top four contenders, showing that this season United are a serious force to be reckoned with.
Manchester United – Bruno Fernandes
Coming off the back of a player of the match performance and scoring his second goal of the season, Wednesday’s captain could be entering a period of form reminiscent of 2020/21 at just the right time.
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Whilst Chelsea have been impressive defensively since Graham Potter has come in, they have been conceding plenty of shots on target recently, something that Bruno Fernandes, who managed three shots on target against Tottenham could take advantage of.
Creating nine chances against Antonio Conte’s side midweek, Fernandes was an integral part of United’s attacking play which ultimately saw two goals against a team with the third highest goal difference in the league.
Of course, one of those goals was scored by Bruno himself and, if not for a tight offside call, he would have scored again after calmly dummying Hugo Lloris and putting the ball into the back of an open net.
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It is also worth saying that, with Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed to be suspended for this game by Ten Hag, fans will get another chance to see how Fernandes works without the big presence of his national teammate.
Fans have long debated if ‘crowbarring’ in both Fernandes and Ronaldo is what has led to Bruno’s lack of consistency since 2020/21 and so, Saturday offers another perfect opportunity to see how Fernandes performs without Ronaldo up front.
If he can continue his form from midweek and bag a goal against this strong Chelsea defence, Bruno Fernandes could just be what sees United win those valuable three points and enter the top four for the first time this season.
Chelsea – Kepa Arrizabalaga
If you had said a few months ago that he would be a player to watch heading into a game of this magnitude, it would have been laughable, yet the Spaniard seems to be proving doubters wrong since finding favour with new manager Graham Potter.
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Kepa started his first Premier League game of the season at the start of this month against Crystal Palace and since then, Chelsea have kept three clean sheets from four games, which is especially impressive given that Chelsea have only kept four Premier League clean sheets all season.
Whilst you can never credit a clean sheet wholly to one part of the defence, it is safe to say that Arrizabalaga has been the star in Chelsea’s backline this past month, saving an average of six shots on target in the last two games, including the highly impressive viral triple save made against Aston Villa.
Should Kepa maintain this career reviving form in front of a home crowd, it could be a tough night in London for United.
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Chelsea vs Manchester United kicks off at 17:30 GMT on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League for UK residents.
Topics: Manchester United, Bruno Fernandes, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Chelsea