Opponent Watch: Manchester United could be without 8 first-team stars for Chelsea clash

Manchester United will be without eight players due to injury vs Chelsea

As per Standard, Chelsea will host Manchester United midweek on Thursday night, and both clubs will go into the encounter missing many of their key players in the match. United have been hit with many injuries as Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw, and Tyrell Malacia are out of the game, while Raphael Varane, John Evans, and Altay Bayindir remain doubtful.

United are hoping to secure a Champions League spot and have been handed an advantage to reduce their gap for the fifth place after Tottenham Hotspur were held 1-1 by West Ham United. Meanwhile, their fourth-place ambitions looks doubtful as Aston Villa are 11 points ahead of sixth-place United.

Meanwhile, the Blues injuries haven’t been surprising, as they have continued to suffer plenty of injuries this season. With a lack of options, the Argentine manager was compelled to use players out of their positions.

The Blues have been dropped to 12^th place, and now securing a European spot is becoming increasingly unlikely, and the pressure from fans is also growing. Chelsea had a big chance to climb above the table against Burnley, but they ended up with a disappointing 2-2 draw.

Now they host United at Bridge, and it will be another tough game for the Blues, and a defeat will further exacerbate the situation with fans. Similar to us, the United team’s season has been inconsistent in terms of performance; they haven’t lived up to expectations and have produced a range of results.

Given that Martinez just made a comeback against Brentford and will once again be sidelined for an extended amount of time, Lindelof’s injury is undoubtedly a major setback for United. Varane and Evans are both questionable, therefore Ten Hag will need to make changes to the backline in order to counter Blues attack.

We have been impressive during attacks, but our main problem has been defence where we have conceded unnecessary goals United are one of the best teams during counterattacks so our backline will have to be equipped for their onslaught.

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But United have an experienced team, and given last season, they performed way better than this campaign. Meanwhile, in our case, our injury crisis is way worse than that of United, and on top of that, we have an inexperienced side that cannot always deliver consistent results. Last time we met United, we lost 2-1. Hopefully this time the result will be in our favour to ease some pressure on Mauricio Pochettino.