English Premier
2013-05-05 - Manchester United vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 5 May 2013 - Kick Off 4pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester United
The Champions get to play their penultimate game at Old Trafford this weekend in front of the TV cameras as they can continue having a big say in which of the sides will play in the Champions League next season. Manchester United earned a 1-1 draw at Arsenal last weekend to dent their chances of finishing in the top four and they will be looking to back that up by doing something similar to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.
The League title may be concluded, but Sir Alex Ferguson feels he is obliged to play a strong team when so much is at stake for some many of the teams chasing a top four position. Manchester United have had a very strong record at Old Trafford all season, going 15-0-2 so far this season while scoring 43 goals and conceding 17 in those games. While United can't make a record total of points from their last three games, they will certainly want to continue their solid form at home in the League.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 4 games in the Premier League since the 1-2 home loss to Manchester City and United have picked up 8 points from a possible 12 in those games. United have won 13 of their last 14 home games in the Premier League, but they have won just 2 of their last 5 here in all competitions and also suffered 2 defeats in that time.
Danny Welbeck and Ashley Young are both missing for the home side, but Paul Scholes could make his return for the final three games before expected retirement.
Chelsea
It isn't often that Rafa Benitez hears any nice words from Sir Alex Ferguson, but that was the case ahead of this game as the latter believes the Spaniard has done a good job at Stamford Bridge so far. Chelsea booked their place in the Europa League Final on Thursday night, but will now refocus on trying to finish in the top four in the Premier League and a place in the Champions League next season.
While the reports are that Jose Mourinho is ready to return to Stamford Bridge as manager this Summer, I think Chelsea will be focusing on matters on the pitch at the moment. At the start of the weekend, Chelsea are 3rd in the Premier League with a 3 point advantage over 5th placed Tottenham Hotspur and both of those sides have a game in hand over 4th placed Arsenal. Chelsea have an 8-4-5 record away from home this season, scoring 31 goals and conceding 22 in those games.
Chelsea are now unbeaten in their last 5 games in all competition since being beaten by Manchester City in the FA Cup Semi Final and the Blues have won 4 of those games. They are unbeaten in their last 3 away games in all competitions since back to back losses at Southampton and Rubin Kazan and they have won 2 of those games.
Ashley Cole and Demba Ba both missed the game against Basel on Thursday, but both are available for this one.
Head to Head
This will be the fifth time that Manchester United and Chelsea will have met this season and the record is both have 1 win each, in regulation time, and there have been 2 draws.
Only 1 of those games took place at Old Trafford in the FA Cup Sixth Round when Manchester United threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2.
United are unbeaten in their last 4 at home against Chelsea and they had won 3 in a row before the draw a couple of months ago.
Prediction
There have been plenty of goals in games when Manchester United and Chelsea have met recently and it says a lot that 5 of the last 6 has seen at least 4 goals scored.
Both teams will want to pick up the three points on Sunday and it could be a fairly entertaining game.
Chelsea have conceded a fair few goals in recent away games, but they are also capable of testing the Manchester United defence and over 3.5 goals looks a likely target.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester United 3-2 Chelsea
