The Premier League’s two biggest underperforming clubs meet at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night with defeat for either leading to another crisis.
Chelsea sit 12th in the table but still within reach of a Europa League place, while Manchester United are stumbling towards the secondary UEFA competition again unless they find consistency and chase down Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino saw his team throw away a lead twice against 10-man Burnley last Saturday but he could select the same starting XI - with the big question over whether Mykhaylo Mudryk retains his place or Raheem Sterling replaces him.
Djordje Petrovic will continue in goal, behind a back four of Malo Gusto, Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi and Marc Cucurella. The £222m midfield duo of Enzo Martinez and Moises Caicedo will remain, with Conor Gallagher in front of them, Cole Palmer on the right and one of Mudryk or Sterling on the left, with Nicolas Jackson continuing up front.
The picture for Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag is less clear, however, despite centre backs Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans easing his defensive selection issues.
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Both have trained ahead of the trip to West London, with Harry Maguire also fit. But Luke Shaw, Lisando Martinez, Victor Lindelof, Tyrell Malacia are still sidelined with United players having now sustained more than 50 separate injuries.
Casemiro is tipped to start alongside breakout star Kobbie Mainoo in midfield, with Bruno Fernandez and Alejandro Garnacho operating either side of Scott McTominay. Rasmus Hojlund will lead the line.
Ten Hag suggested fixture overload was to blame for some injuries this season, although United have played 13 games in 2024, compared to 22 at this stage last season.
“I know that it still has an effect, the huge amount of games we had in the last 18 months,” he said. “That still has an impact on our squad, the accumulation on the players.
“The players get overloaded and can't bring the performances anymore. We're already over the point where we demand what we want from our top players.
Mauricio Pochettino was unhappy with Chelsea's performance against Burnley"You saw last weekend, Manchester City were playing without Kyle Walker, without John Stones. The levels were dropping without them. There was a different team to what we faced. The levels for teams will keep dropping if you keep going in this process where we are overloading in the international competition.
“We have national teams [international breaks] five times a year - you give the players away and you don’t have any impact. With some national teams we have a very good connection and we manage the programmes, but there are also others that do what they want. You don’t have anything in hand on what they are doing there.”
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Gallagher, Mudryk; Jackson.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1): Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Maguire, Dalot; Casemiro, Mainoo; Fernandes, McTominay, Garnacho; Hojlund.
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