There is one match left in the Premier League before the final day of the season and it comes along on Thursday evening when Manchester United look to secure Champions League football for next season when they host Chelsea at Old Trafford.
Chelsea probably can’t wait for this season to end but before it does they have the opportunity to spoil the Manchester United party. United will be eager to get the point they need to secure their top four spot so that they can then focus on the FA Cup final a week on Saturday.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels with the build-up beginning at 7pm and the match kicking off at 8pm.
Manchester United
When you consider the supposed turmoil that Manchester United were meant to be in heading into the season and after the first quarter of it, to be a point away from Champions League football and already have a trophy in the bag has to go down as a pretty solid campaign, one which could yet get even better should they lift the FA Cup next month as well. Before then though, if they are going to play Champions League football they need one more point.
The Red Devils will be confident of getting that on home soil where the only defeat they have suffered this season was on the opening weekend against Brighton. Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal have all been to Old Trafford and failed to win and Erik Ten Hag’s men look much more comfortable on their own patch than away from it. They have won their last four home matches without conceding a single goal.
Chelsea
If United have steadied the ship and delivered an acceptable season, the same certainly can’t be said of Chelsea who began it indifferently and have got worse the longer it has gone on. So many bad decisions have been made at Stamford Bridge this term and in the end they are lucky they picked up the range of points they did at the beginning of it else relegation could seriously be looming large by now, albeit I doubt a stopgap manager would have been appointed had they been in that sort of trouble.
Whatever the idea behind bringing Frank Lampard back was it certainly hasn’t had the desired effect and the Blues have won just one game under him, against Bournemouth, and they weren’t massively convincing in that either. To be fair to them, they were fairly competitive against Manchester City on Sunday but City were in celebration mode and you got the feeling if they wanted to push the boat out more they could do. It looks like Chelsea are just playing out time on this term.
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Team News
Marcus Rashford is expected to be fit to take his place in the Manchester United forward line but the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Marcel Sabitzer and Donny van de Beek are all done for the season and will miss out here.
Chelsea will also have a forward back with Joao Felix named in the squad which will travel to Old Trafford. Mason Mount, Ben Chilwell and Reece James will all miss what is the final away match of the campaign for the Blues.
Betting
If you overthink this match then it is easy to think it is a tricky one to bet on because Manchester United only need a point to achieve their aim but when you look at how bad Chelsea have been since Frank Lampard turned up and the calibre of player they are missing here it is hard to see the home side not coming out on top. You won’t get massively rich backing them to win but there might be better value to be had in the side markets.
Manchester United have won five of their last six matches and all of those wins have come without conceding a goal. Admittedly Leicester City, Everton, Brentford, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers are not the toughest opponents but this is a Chelsea team who have scored 17 goals on their travels this term, the same amount as bottom of the table Southampton. Under Lampard, Chelsea failed to score at Wolves and at Man City and their goal at Arsenal was a consolation. You can get 9/4 on a home win to nil and that looks like the value way to play this one.
Tips
Back Man Utd to win to nil for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with Sky Bet
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