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By far the most anticipated FA Cup 5th round tie. Chelsea host Manchester United at Stamford Bridge for a place in the Quarter Final!
To begin with the hosts Chelsea, well it’s about as inconsistent as it gets, sometimes play well, sometimes an absolute travesty. Just looking at Chelsea’s last 10 games their form is WLWLWWLWLW.
The past couple of weeks have especially been rough for Chelsea as they saw themselves lose 4-0 to Bournemouth which then was their biggest BPL loss, however they lost by a record margin again last Sunday when they lost 6-0 to Man City. Now in between they did beat Huddersfield 5-0 and Malmo in UEL 1-2 this Thursday, but it’s clear as day that Chelsea are not playing well at all, in fact horrible.
One thing that Chelsea do got going for them is they have looked pretty strong at Stamford Bridge totalling just ONE overall loss across all competitions and in 2019 they won 5 of 6 drawing the other so for the most part they have been disastrous on their travels while turning up at Stamford Bridge which will for sure benefit them entering this tie.
So far in the FA Cup, Chelsea haven’t had much trouble advancing beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 and Sheffield Wednesday 3-0, however Man Utd are clearly by far the strongest opponent that they’re about to face in the FA Cup this season.
Eden Hazard and Gonzalo Higuain duo is the one to watch for Chelsea. In their short time they’ve already been having some nice link up plays despite poor team results and if Chelsea want to win, these two will need to provide some magic for the Blues.
Chelsea have looked pretty strong in big games at Stamford Bridge with wins against Arsenal 3-2, Man City 2-0, draws with Liverpool 1-1 and Man Utd 2-2 in the league. They also beat Tottenham in the EFL Cup 2-1 here. 3W 2D 0L.
Man Utd meanwhile have had a resurgent 2019 so far, however they are coming off their first big setback under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as they were beaten by PSG 0-2 last week in the Champions League which probably has killed their European hopes and they lost a couple of key players in Lingard and Martial to injuries in that match. It will be interesting to see how they respond.
Despite that defeat, it’s pretty clear that United are back on track if you look at their 11 games in Domestic competition (BPL, FA Cup) they have a 10W 1D record under Solskjaer defeating Arsenal and Spurs in this stretch too away from home.
Man Utd’s FA Cup so far has been solid with 2-0 wins against Reading and a very impressive 1-3 away at Arsenal.
Man Utd have actually got a 100% win record away from home under Solskjaer (6W 0D 0L) in which they kept 4 clean sheets, scored 15 goals conceded 2. They have been extremely dominant in their travels lately.
Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba, assuming Ole plays them are the players to watch for the Red devils despite their poor performances against PSG, overall they’ve still been playing great football under their new manager with Rashford bagging 6 goals while Pogba has 8 Goals 5 Assists in this stretch. With Martial and Lingard out, these two will especially have to be on their game in this tie.
Man Utd haven’t done too bad in big away games, they beat Spurs 0-1, Arsenal 1-3 (cup), drew 2-2 with Chelsea while losing to the top 2 English teams in Liverpool and Man City 3-1 each which is no shame considering how dominant these two are.
The first match between Chelsea and Man Utd ended 2-2 as mentioned twice already. Man Utd turned a 1-0 deficit into a 1-2 lead however Ross Barkley’s 96th minute equaliser saved Chelsea a point. It was a very evenly contested game.
Chelsea have knocked Man Utd out of the FA Cup 4 consecutive times. They have knocked United out in this competition in each of the last 2 seasons beating them in the Quarters 1-0 in 2017 and in the Final last year 1-0.
Chelsea have dominated Man Utd at Stamford Bridge in the past few years going unbeaten in 9 straight having won 7 of those home games against their rivals. Man Utd have only ever won twice at Stamford Bridge since 2003 which is a ridiculous stat.
Chelsea are tipped favourites by the bookies at 2.10 to win this game, Man Utd are underdogs at 3.70 while Draw is priced at 3.60. Chelsea are also favoured to go through at 1.60 to Man Utd’s 2.35. It’s no surprise that considering that Chelsea do have the home advantage in the tie.
Team News
Chelsea: Chelsea don’t have any serious injury concerns, Ruben Loftus-Cheek will have to be evaluated but is likely to be in the matchday squad.
Manchester United: Martial and Lingard are both out after picking up injuries against PSG which could give Lukaku and Alexis a chance. Lukaku and Alexis performed well in the last round against Arsenal, however since haven’t done much. Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian are also out.
Betting Stats
*Stats will be based off the Premier League as both sides play in the BPL.
Chelsea are thed 13th in total goal overs covered at Stamford Bridge this season at 46.2% (6-7).
Chelsea are tied 14th in total 1st half goal overs covered at Stamford Bridge this season at 30.8% (4-1-8).
Eden Hazard is Chelsea’s top scorer at Stamford Bridge this season with 7 home goals in the BPL.
Chelsea average 1.08 bookings at Stamford Bridge (14 in 13 BPL Home Games).
Chelsea are tied 9th at covering Handicaps at Stamford Bridge at 46.2% (6-1-6).
Chelsea are tied 7th best at covering 1st half Handicaps at Stamford Bridge at 46.2% (6-1-6).
Man Utd are the 3rd best BPL team at covering total goal overs away from home this season at 71.4% (10-4).
Man Utd are the 2nd best BPL team at covering total 1st half goal overs away from home this season at 64.3% (9-3-2).
Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford are Man Utd’s tied top scorers away from home with 6 away goals each. Martial also has 6 but he’s out as mentioned.
Man Utd average 2.64 bookings away from home in the BPL this season (37 bookings in 14 games).
Man Utd are tied 4th best at covering Handicaps away from home at 64.3% (9-5). They’re 100% at covering them under Ole (5-0).
Man Utd are 7th best at covering 1st half Handicaps away from home at 50% (7-7). 80% covered under Ole (4-1).
KICK OFF – 18th February 2019 – 7:30pm UK Time
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