Chelsea vs Manchester United. Premier League.
Stamford BridgeAttendance41,424.
Sunday 23 October 2016 18:44, UK
Jose Mourinho will make his first return to Stamford Bridge as Manchester United manager as his side take on Chelsea on Nissan Super Sunday.
The Portuguese manager had two successful spells as Blues boss, but was dismissed by the club ten months ago before moving to Old Trafford in the summer.
United will play their third game in less than a week live on Sky Sports, with a goalless draw with Liverpool on Monday before registering a 4-1 victory over Fernabache in the Europa League on Thursday.
Chelsea have also won their last two Premier League games while keeping clean sheets, including a 3-0 victory over current champions Leicester last Saturday.
The Blues also have a good recent record against their opponents having not lost any of their last seven league games against United (W3 D4).
Chris Smalling will be assessed ahead of Sunday's game after coming off at half-time on Thursday due to what United have described as a minor muscular injury.
Mourinho also said on Thursday that playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was absent from the matchday squad for an eighth straight game, will be "ready very soon to play" having recovered from a thigh injury.
Chelsea will make a late decision over whether to field Willian following the death of his mother while Oscar has also been away following a family bereavement, but
John Terry is avaliable another full week of training following an ankle injury but Cesc Fabregas (thigh) and defender Branislav Ivanovic, who has a minor injury to an undisclosed muscle, are out.
Elsewhere, Kurt Zouma is set to return to first-team training next week following his long-term knee injury.
Manchester United have lost more Premier League fixtures against Chelsea than any other side (16).
Of those 16 Chelsea wins against Manchester United, five were recorded by Jose Mourinho, more than any other boss for the Blues.
Jose Mourinho lost just one league game at Stamford Bridge between 2004/05 and 2014/15 (W76 D21). He then lost four of his final eight games there in 2015/16 (W3 D1).
The only time in his career Mourinho has managed an opposition side at Stamford Bridge was with Inter Milan in March 2010, knocking out Chelsea in the Champions League.
David Luiz has twice scored against Manchester United in the Premier League but his only own goal is against the Red Devils.
Wayne Rooney has gone six Premier League games without scoring against Chelsea, this after converting two penalties against them in February 2012.
Manchester United have won just one of their last eight Premier League trips to London (W1 D3 L4).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored against Chelsea in both of his appearances against them last season in the Champions League.
After scoring with four of his first 15 shots in the Premier League, Ibrahimovic has failed to find the net with any of his last 26 in the competition.
Diego Costa has scored seven times in his opening eight league games this season. Only two Chelsea players have scored more goals in their first eight matches of a campaign - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2001/02 (8) and Diego Costa himself in 2014/15 (9).
This season, Jose Mourinho has registered his lowest points total (14) after his first eight league games with a new club since his stint with Uniao de Leiria (10 points).
Since his debut in August 2012, Eden Hazard has scored more Premier League goals than any other midfielder in the competition (44).
I'm going to go 1-0 Chelsea. I think they'll have just a little bit more than what Liverpool had in attempting to break United down.
People had a go at United on Monday. What do you expect? They got a point. This is not the Manchester United of the 1990s, this is the Manchester United of now. It's not that football has changed, it's that the team isn't good enough.
I don't think they're good enough to mix it at the moment. I think Jose Mourinho knows that, he set his team up, and they didn't lose. It was a great result.
He will 100 per cent do the same at Stamford Bridge. If they have a shot, and Chelsea have a shot, there's only one winner, and that's Chelsea by quite a few. Mourinho won't go there and want to open the game up in that way.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-0 (13/1 with Sky Bet)
Chelsea can be backed as the 23/20 favourites with Sky Bet to beat their former manager Jose Mourinho's Manchester United in the return of the Special One to Stamford Bridge. United are 12/5 outsiders to get the three points from the Portuguese chief and the draw can be backed at 23/10.
The Red Devils drew 0-0 at Liverpool on Monday night and another goalless encounter can be supported at 9/1. Sky Bet have plenty of goalscorer trebles available for this match, including 18/1 for Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all to score.
