English Premier
2025-09-20 - Manchester United vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 20th September 2025 - Kick Off 5:30pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester United
Some reports are suggesting that Manchester United's board are running out of patience with Ruben Amorim and that the Portuguese manager needs some big results immediately to turn things around. He has been in charge for almost eleven months, but the Premier League form has shown no sign of Manchester United finding the consistency expected.
A big defeat in the Manchester derby has pushed Manchester United back down to 14th place in the Premier League table and fans are becoming increasingly agitated. Even co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe looked pretty flustered at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and Manchester United having 4 points from the first 12 available is not good enough. The side have a 1-0-1 record at Old Trafford where they have scored and conceded 3 goals.
Manchester United have won 2 of their last 9 games in all competitions and just 1 of the 5 played this season to increase the pressure on Ruben Amorim. They needed an injury time Penalty to beat Burnley 3-2 in the last League fixture at Old Trafford, but Manchester United have won just 2 of the last 7 Premier League games here.
Diogo Dalot, Mason Mount and Matheus Cunha all missed the Manchester derby, but the hope is that they can all be involved in some capacity on Saturday afternoon.
Chelsea
Winning the new format of the Club World Cup will have naturally raised expectations in the fanbase, but Enzo Maresca was keen to remind the media that Chelsea have not competed in the Champions League for two seasons. That being said, the manager also pointed out the relative inexperience at the highest level within his young squad and the subsequent 3-1 loss to Bayern Munich perhaps highlighted the point being made.
Patience is not something you associate with the Chelsea board nor the general top flight football fan these days and so Enzo Maresca will be under pressure if it is felt that his team are underperforming. The Blues will be looking to bounce back from the defeat in Munich in the Premier League where Chelsea have picked up 8 points from the opening four matches played. The side have a 1-1-0 away record in the Premier League and have scored 7 goals and conceded 3 in those matches.
Chelsea's 9 game winning run was ended in the defeat on Wednesday, but they are unbeaten in 6 Premier League games going into this fixture. Only a very late goal conceded last weekend prevented Chelsea from winning a third away Premier League fixture in succession.
Cole Palmer may have suffered something of a reoccurrence of the groin strain that has been keeping him out, but Enzo Maresca downplayed the problem at the end of the game on Wednesday. However, that is something to monitor in what looks an otherwise strong squad travelling to the North West.
Head to Head
Chelsea took four points from Manchester United in the Premier League last season with the majority earned in a late fixture at Stamford Bridge.
The game at Old Trafford ended 1-1 just before Ruben Amorim took over as manager of Manchester United.
The home team are unbeaten in 12 games when hosting Chelsea and had beaten them twice in a row at Old Trafford before the draw last November.
Prediction
Despite the Champions League returning during the week, the headlines and the football news has been dominated by Ruben Amorim and Manchester United.
The club continue to back the manager, but the 3-0 defeat in the Manchester derby has continued to pile the pressure on the board, players and Amorim himself.
After the failure of last season, Ruben Amorim promised better was to come for Manchester United, but losses in half of the Premier League games and being an injury time Penalty away from failing to have any wins on the board are showing little sign of the better times to come.
Getting back into Europe is the outward ambition, but reports suggest that insiders feel this squad is more than capable for challenging for Champions League places in what feels like a pretty open top five places.
Manchester United have already suffered a loss at Old Trafford to Arsenal and the pressure is going to be ramped up if they were to lose to another of the Champions League chasing clubs in front of the home fans.
Excuses run short when you think Manchester United have had a full week of preparation, while Chelsea were getting something of the run-around at Bayern Munich on Wednesday. A strong team had been selected by Enzo Maresca, but Chelsea were pretty well beaten when all was said and done and so Manchester United have to be the fresher team.
Chelsea had begun the season pretty well, but there are vulnerabilities that the two West London rivals have highlighted in the last couple of Premier League games.
Last weekend Brentford did earn a positive result against Chelsea at home and Fulham will feel they deserved at least a point when they travelled to Stamford Bridge last month. The Chelsea backline is one that is far from secure and that will offer up chances for Manchester United.
However, it is hard to trust Manchester United on current form and with a midfield that will be going up against one of Chelsea's strengths.
The home team do have a very good record against Chelsea at home in recent seasons, and perhaps should have won for a third time in a row last season, but more reports about potential dressing room unrest makes it hard to believe in Manchester United.
In reality they did not play terribly against Manchester City or Arsenal, but there are issues in the middle of the park that always seems to leave United exposed. With Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro, there are players who can find pockets to hurt Manchester United on Saturday, and it could be another tight battle with fine margins determining the outcome.
Picking the right result is tough, while the over/under markets are also tough to read considering Manchester United's continuing failure to make the right decisions in the final third.
One player who has come in and look like he is ready to play in the red shirt is Bryan Mbeumo though and he looks worthy of backing to get at least one shot on target.
He has managed that in three of the four Premier League games played, including both at Old Trafford, and Bryan Mbeumo also scored in the League Cup tie at Grimsby Town. This is a player who is getting into a position to cause problems for the opponent and Bryan Mbeumo will not be intimidated by this Chelsea defence that has conceded six goals in 3 away games played this season.
Bryan Mbeumo has not been overwhelmed by representing Manchester United and has been producing plenty in the final third and that may be the best play from a fixture that feels pretty wide open.
Even if there is some unrest amongst some within the squad, Bryan Mbeumo has continued to look like a player willing to give his all and he could be key for Ruben Amorim this weekend.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea
