Chelsea vs Man Utd Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Prediction

Chelsea entertain Manchester United at Stamford Bridge this evening as the two giants contest the last remaining FA Cup semi final place.

Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham have all secured safe passage to the last four so irrespective of who comes out victorious in west London tonight, we’re guaranteed two mouth-watering semi’s at Wembley.

Chelsea come in to the game sitting ten points clear at the top of the Premier League table following their win at West Ham last weekend so Antonio Conte’s men are on course for a league and cup double.

United on the other hand remain sixth in the table despite losing just one of their last 28 games in all competitions and they could still be feeling the effects of their long round-trip to Russia for their Europa League clash with Rostov last Thursday night.

Team news

Conte has no fresh injury concerns to worry about and the Italian coach is expected to revert to a strong line-up after playing some of his fringe players in the previous rounds.

The likes of Asmir Begovic, John Terry, Kurt Zouma, Nathaniel Chalobah and Nathan Ake all featured against Wolves in the last round but I don’t think we’ll see any of them starting tonight.

However, Willian could get a start in attack with Pedro given a rest while I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nemanja Matic replacing Cesc Fabregas in midfield.

United are reportedly facing a striker crisis with Zlatan Ibrahimovic starting his three-match suspension while Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial are seemingly not in the squad.

Reports over the weekend claimed that Rashford is ill while Martial and Rooney apparently picked up knocks in training so Marouane Fellaini is being tipped to be deployed as a make-shift target man up front.

However, this being Mourinho, I personally wouldn’t be surprised if this is a smokescreen and we see a least one of the three forwards in the squad tonight.

Luke Shaw has been included in the travelling party and could come in at left-back while David De Gea, Antonio Valencia and Michael Carrick are set for recalls after being rested last week.

Eric Bailly is back in contention after serving a European ban while Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard could also come back in to the attack with Henrikh Mkhitaryan unlikely to be risked from the start after making his first appearance in three weeks on Thursday.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Chelsea 2-1 Man Utd: Both teams have been in excellent form lately but United have a poor record against Chelsea having not won any of their last 11 meetings in all competitions. The Blues won the league fixture at Stamford Bridge 4-0 in October and Conte’s side should be the fresher of the two. Plus, the lack of established striker, if the rumours are true, could prove costly for United. Therefore, I’m backing Chelsea to edge it tonight.