Chelsea

Morgan Rogers scored from the penalty spot in Chelsea’s EFL Cup clash against Liverpool during the week, and was the most dangerous player on the pitch for the away side.

Rogers had two shots on target in that clash, taking six shots overall. He’s been really confident since arriving at Chelsea, and has had a shot on target in five of his eight starts in the Premier League.

What really stands out to me about Rogers’ game this season is his shot volume. He’s had at least one shot in every Premier League game, taking multiple shots in seven of these matches - evening reaching 3+ shots on four occasions.

Only Cole Palmer (25) has had more shots in the Premier League for Chelsea than Rogers (20), and with Joao Pedro set to be sidelined here - both should be even more important to Chelsea’s chances of success.

Bryan Mbeumo leads the Man Utd squad for shots, shots on target and goals in the Premier League this season and has had a shot on target in every Premier League game so far - managing multiple shots on target in three of these games.

Benjamin Sesko is still sidelined, and isn’t expected to return to action until January - so we can expect Bryan Mbeumo to play as Man Utd’s main striker until then. Mbeumo has been one of the most consistent finishers in the Premier League over the last few seasons, so it’s no surprise that Carrick sees him as a number nine in Sesko’s absence.

Man Utd are averaging 5.00 shots on target per game in the Premier League this season, only three sides in the division have found the target more often than Carrick’s side despite their poor form over recent weeks. They’ve also taken more shots than any other side (19.38 per game), so there should be plenty of service for Man Utd’s top scorer.

I think Man Utd have missed the presence of Amad Diallo in the early parts of the season, with the winger only recently coming back into the side after injury.

Amad has been fouled twice in each of his last two Premier League appearances against Bournemouth and Leeds. Only two Man Utd players won more fouls than Amad in the Premier League last season, who averaged 1.46 fouls won per 90 across his 32 appearances.

Amad didn’t start in this fixture last season, only coming on for the final 10 minutes, but did play the full 90 against Chelsea when the sides met at Old Trafford - drawing two fouls on that occasion with Chelsea committing 14 fouls in total. 

Mike Penders redeemed himself after a shaky display against Tottenham last week, making three crucial saves as Chelsea faced Liverpool in the EFL Cup.

He saved a penalty in the shootout too, and didn’t look too affected by the mistake he made against Tottenham last week - punching the ball into his own net. 

Prior to his injury, Martinez was forced into making 25 saves across just six starts in the Premier League (4.29 per 90). That is clearly a keeper that is being overworked, and isn’t being offered much protection by the defensive structure in front of him.

Every side will be eager to test Penders, he’s not that experienced at this level - and that mistake he made against Tottenham will only encourage opposition sides to test the young keeper with more speculative efforts.

Penders made three saves in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham last time out, and now has the task of keeping out a Man Utd side who have had more shots than any other side in the Premier League this season, as well as the third most shots on target.