Daily Dynamo Selections – Chelsea v Manchester United
These are desperate times for Manchester United. Already slipping miles behind in the title race, eliminated from the FA Cup, and now beaten by Sunderland in the first-leg of their League Cup semi-final, the early days of the David Moyes era are not exactly going according to plan. Thus, this would be a big match with Chelsea normally, but under the current circumstances it takes on even more significance.
There can’t have been too many occasions during Premier League history when a team has been odds on to beat Manchester United. But that is the case for this match, with the bookmakers strongly favouring the home side to win this one. It is hard to disagree with this verdict; Chelsea are on a confident winning run of four Premier League games, and have won eight, drawn one and lost one of their last ten matches. They have a better defensive and goalscoring record than United and have kept three consecutive clean sheets.
United by contrast have struggled all season, and would probably take a point from this game, even though that would surely rule them out of contention for the Premier League title. They had marginally the better of a 0-0 draw with Chelsea earlier this season, but have do not good enough to beat the top teams in the league at present. Furthermore, United are likely to be without Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie for this match, so the odds are frankly stacked against them.
Nonetheless, I think it’ll be a close and hard fought game, but that Chelsea will win.
Selections: Chelsea win (4/5 with William Hill), Chelsea to win by 1 goal (14/5 with Ladbrokes)
