Chelsea vs Man Utd preview | Latest team news | Expected line-ups | Prediction

Chelsea welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge this evening with the Premier League heavyweights vying for a place in the quarter finals of the FA Cup.

The Blues eased in to the fifth round of the competition after beating Sheffield Wednesday three weeks ago but they’ve been hugely inconsistent this month having won two and lost two of their last four games.

Heavy defeats to Bournemouth and Manchester City came either side of a 5-0 thrashing of Huddersfield while Chelsea took control of their Europa League last-32 tie with Malmo thanks to a 2-1 win on Thursday night.

Maurizio Sarri has seen his position come under scrutiny recently so he’ll be hoping to appease disgruntled fans with victory tonight but that won’t be easy against a Man Utd side that have been in great form lately.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remains unbeaten domestically since taking over from Jose Mourinho in mid-December and United leapfrogged Chelsea in to fourth in the table with a 3-0 win at Fulham last weekend.

However, Man Utd will be looking to bounce back following their disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Paris Saint-Germain last Tuesday that leaves them facing an early exit from the Champions League.

Team news

Chelsea have no fresh injury concerns to worry about but Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be assessed ahead of the game due to an on-going back injury. Marcos Alonso, Eden Hazard, Gonzalo Higuain, Antonio Rudiger and N’Golo Kante are all pushing for recalls.

United will be without Anthony Martial after he picked up a groin injury against PSG while Jesse Lingard is also out after limping off with a hamstring issue last time out.

Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku and Juan Mata are vying for places alongside Marcus Rashford in attack but Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian remain on the sidelines through injury.

Expected line-ups

Prediction

Chelsea 2-1 Man Utd: United have a poor recently record at Stamford Bridge as they’ve won just two of their last 22 away games at Chelsea and the Blues have won each of the last four FA Cup meetings, including last year’s final. Chelsea may not be in top form right now but they always seem to get the job done in the FA Cup and the PSG defeat will have deflated United. I’m backing the hosts to edge it 2-1.