Jose Mourinho and Manchester United will look to avenge the 4-0 thumping inflicted upon them by Chelsea in October when they return to Stamford Bridge to take on the Blues in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.
The Chelsea v United clash is one of two all Premier League Cup ties (Middlesbrough v Man City being the other), with the Blues’ London neighbours Arsenal and Tottenham both drawn against lower league opposition in the form of Lincoln and Millwall respectively.
The two teams met at this very stage four years ago in the 2012/13 season. On that occasion, Chelsea came from 2-0 down at Old Trafford to draw 2-2 and take the tie to a replay at Stamford Bridge, which they won 1-0 thanks to Demba Ba’s 40th minute effort. However, this year’s FA Cup has new rules in place, with the replay canned and the match going to extra time and penalties to decide a winner, should the need arise.
This means that Antonio Conte is likely to field his strongest side against the Red Devils after having given his fringe players a run out in their previous Cup games against Peterborough United, Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Conte also has the luxury of a seven day turn around, with Chelsea’s last game against West Ham taking place a week ago.
United meanwhile must deal with the exertions of Europa League football, with their players having made the 2100 mile trip eastward to Rostov just four days before this fixture at the Bridge.
The likes of Thibaut Courtois, N’Golo Kante and Gary Cahill are all likely to feature, with the only major doubt being centre half David Luiz, who has a knee injury. United meanwhile will be without the services of talismanic forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with the Swede serving the first of a three game ban for his elbow on Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings last weekend.
There was no love lost between Mourinho and the Chelsea dressing room when he left, and the Portuguese gaffer will be very keen to take revenge for the 4-0 league thrashing inflicted upon them in October. Knocking Conte’s side out of the Cup and destroying their chances of a domestic double would do very nicely for Mou, and if you fancy the Red Devils to put it across the Blues, there are various free bets at TheBookiesoffers that you can take advantage of.
Chelsea thump United 4-0 in October (Video)
FA Cup progress so far for Chelsea
Chelsea 4-1 Peterborough (Pedro*2, Batshuayi, Willian)
Chelsea 4-0 Brentford (Willian, Pedro, Ivanovic, Batshuayi)
Wolves 0-2 Chelsea (Pedro, Diego Costa)
Pedro is Chelsea’s highest scorer in the FA Cup this season, with the Spaniard having scored in all of their Cup games this season.
FA Cup progress so far for Manchester United
Manchester United 4-0 Reading (Rooney, Martial, Rashford*2)
Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic (Fellaini, Smalling, Mkhitaryan, Schweinsteiger)
Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Manchester United (Rashford, Ibrahimovic)
Both sides have scored the same number of goals in the FA Cup so far- 10 and both have also conceded just one goal.
Can the defending champions beat the in-form Blues? We’ll find out on Monday night.
Chelsea v Man Utd (13 March, 2017) at Stamford Bridge- KO 19.45 UK