Manchester United vs. Chelsea, Premier League: Preview, team news, how to watch

Two of the last handful of Premier League-winners not named Manchester City go head-to-head on this sad end of season occasion, which will likely see Manchester United clinch a top-four finish and Chelsea clinch a big fat wet fart.

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If Chelsea do squirt out an unlikely victory, our first in the league at Old Trafford in a decade, we would vault ourselves back up to the heady heights of 11th, while United would then need a point from their last game, at home against Fulham, to beat out Liverpool for the final Champions League spot.

Would we want to do our part to deny Mason Mount a chance at the Big Ears next season?

Yeah, probably.

Date / Time: Thursday, May 25, 2023, 20.00 BST; 3pm EDT; 12:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
Referee: Stuart Attwell (on pitch); Michael Salisbury (VAR)
Forecast: a pleasant spring night

On TV: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); none (USA); none?? (India); SuperSport Premier League (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); Peacock (USA); Hotstar VIP (India); DStv Now (NGA)

Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images

Manchester United team news: United should get leading scorer Marcus Rashford back from illness, and will thus be without only long-term absentees Marcel Sabitzer, Lisandro Martínez, and Donny van de Beek.

United’s first season under Erik ten Hag was one of transition and squad re-shaping but unlike other transitioning teams, they managed to get a few good results, too, including winning the League Cup back in February and a spot in the FA Cup final against Manchester City in ten days that could see them complete the domestic cup double (and prevent City’s treble).

View from the enemy: The Busby Babe

Chelsea team news: The one constant we have managed this season is injuries, and we’re once again counting them in the double-digits with Benoît Badiashile ruled out. He joins Reece James, N’Golo Kanté, Ben Chilwell, Marc Cucurella, Mateo Kovačić, Mason Mount, Marcus Bettinelli, and Armando Broja on the sidelines. Chilwell is back in light training, but remains unlikely to feature this season.

In better news, João Félix missed out over the weekend with a knock but should be okay, while Kalidou Koulibaly might be ready for more minutes are making his return ahead of schedule as a substitute in that game.

And that might be as good as good news gets these days.

“My experience of football is that if you switch it off, it’s not easy to switch it on. It doesn’t always become an overnight remedy. It’s not going to be my responsibility but from my experience of being in a consistent performing club for many years, the moments you do switch off become very hard to switch it on. That will be the test next year.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

Previously: Our last five meetings have been all draws (0-0, 0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 1-1) but as mentioned at the top, our last Premier League win at Old Trafford was a decade ago. Wow. Legend has it that David Luiz is still smiling about his good buddy Rafael kicking him.