Cole Palmer loves playing against Man Utd. 

Many of you will remember his hat trick against Man Utd at Stamford Bridge a few years ago during the Pochettino era, and he’s started the season with some decent goal contribution numbers.

Palmer reminds me a lot of Salah in the sense that he can still come away with a goal or an assist even if he isn’t playing that well. He’s been nowhere near his best this season, but has still registered five goal contributions across his eight starts in the Premier League.

It was similar last season, with Palmer battling with injuries and patches of poor form throughout the campaign - but still ended the season with 11 goal contributions across his 24 Premier League starts.

Furthermore, United look vulnerable at the moment. They conceded four against Como last week, and three against Bournemouth over the weekend. Chelsea may have had real defensive issues across Alonso’s opening eight games in the division, but only Brighton and Man City have outscored them so far.

Bruno Fernandes will come back into the side here for this game after being dropped by Carrick for Man Utd’s defeat to Bournemouth over the weekend.

Man Utd are far from a complete side even with Fernandes involved, but it’s clear that without him they are completely hopeless. 

They lacked creativity in that 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth over the weekend, and regardless of what you think of Fernandes’ comments after the Como game - he’s still a world class player that can make something out of nothing.

He likes playing against Chelsea too, assisting Cunha’s winner at Stamford Bridge last season as well as scoring against the Blues at Old Trafford. He’s registered four goal contributions across his seven starts so far, and is clearly Man Utd’s biggest threat here. 

Moises Caicedo was incredibly fortunate to avoid a yellow card against Tottenham last week. 

If you just look at the numbers, it looks like he just made a solitary foul but he was really reckless on a number of occasions with the referee letting him off via playing advantage.

The midfield battle here is really interesting to me. Fernandes should come back into the side, giving Caicedo one decent opponent, but he’ll also have Tielemans (2.28 fouls won per 90) to contend with as well as one of Baleba, Santos or Mainoo. 

Caicedo is actually yet to pick up a yellow card in the Premier League this season, but has committed five fouls (1.70 per 90) and has a favourable matchup here to collect his first caution of the season.

No Chelsea player collected more yellow cards than Moises Caicedo in the Premier League last season (11), and that game against Tottenham last week showed that Chelsea still do have some underlying discipline issues.

Chelsea have conceded more goals from set pieces than any other side in the Premier League so far this season, despite spending a significant amount of money on a new set piece coach over the summer.

I’m not surprised that Chelsea are struggling from these situations. They’re opting for zonal marking from corners in particular, and there has long been an issue with physicality and height in this Chelsea side - making them the perfect side for opposition teams to target from set pieces.

There aren’t many centre backs better than Harry Maguire when it comes to offering a threat from set pieces. He’s had nine shots in the Premier League this season (1.13 per 90) - ranking Maguire in the 93rd percentile when compared to other centre backs in the Premier League for shots.

I’d be looking at Maguire for a shot (1.83), and a shot on target (4.5) given his promising underlying numbers this season and Chelsea’s general weakness from set pieces. 

We need him to find the target here, which is a bit more of a punt than a single shot (1.83), but given Chelsea’s obvious weakness from set piece situations - I can see Maguire finding the target at least once.

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 - even 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.

Moises Caicedo has won seven fouls across his three starts in the Premier League this season, being fouled twice in all three of these games:

3 fouls won v Bournemouth 
2 fouls won v Everton 
2 fouls won v Tottenham

Caicedo is more associated with his foul committed numbers, but he’s a really tough player to knock off the ball and maintained an average of 1.77 fouls won per 90 in the Premier League last season.

Only one Chelsea player won more fouls than Caicedo (55) during the 25/26 Premier League season. He was also fouled once in Chelsea’s clash against Liverpool in the EFL Cup during the week, playing 68 minutes with Alonso clearly having this game in mind.

Caicedo was fouled in both league meetings against Man Utd last season, being hauled down twice when the sides met at Old Trafford. 

I’m interested in his duel with Carlos Baleba here, who has committed three fouls across 177 minutes of action for United (1.53 per 90) and averaged 1.68 fouls committed per 90 last season. 

Bruno Fernandes will also be operating in areas around Caicedo (0.71 fouls committed per 90), confirming this is an appealing price. Caicedo is as short as 1.6 with other major bookmakers to be fouled twice on this early kick off. 

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.