Friday 14 April 2017 10:38, UK
Jose Mourinho is propositioned with the task of stopping his former side from cantering towards the trophy when Chelsea visit Old Trafford on Super Sunday.
Only four sides have beaten the Blues all season, including their only remaining title challengers in Tottenham, who sit seven points behind them in the Premier League table.
Here's what Soccer Saturday pundits Paul Merson, Phil Thompson, Matt Le Tissier and Charlie Nicholas think you need to do to beat Antonio Conte's side...
The only team that have really shown how to beat their system are Tottenham, which was because Chelsea had played quick games in succession. The way they play with wing-backs, it's hard to do that without a break.
The way I'd play would be like we used to at Arsenal when we played that system, with one up front and two out-and-out wingers, then the wingers stay wide and don't track back.
That way you're either asking the central defenders to come out wide, where the likes of Gary Cahill don't want to go, or make their wing-backs come back into a five, reducing their threat and giving Eden Hazard and Pedro less support.
That's what Manchester City did and they had a lot of the game but just couldn't grind out the result. It's obviously not easy to do that but I think you've got to have bottle if you want to beat Chelsea.
Spurs did it very well when they went like for like and said let's have a go. I'm usually a person who believes you should go with your own best system, but I think with Kyle Walker and Danny Rose as wing-backs and Eric Dier, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld can match anybody, so they had the right ingredients to do it.
There's not too many teams who have the players to say they can match that system, and Mauricio Pochettino might not be a great believer in that formation, but he knew it could stifle Chelsea.
If United had the centre-backs fit, which is an issue, and they've got Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia available then they've got a chance. Their centre-backs might not be as good as Tottenham's but the pace and delivery of the full-backs would give them a chance to compete.
Mourinho won't admit it publicly but behind the scenes he'll know Chelsea are better and that he has to hurt them by getting his players to sit and and hit them on the break, which he has done countless times against superior sides.
How do you stop Chelsea? If I knew that I'd be making millions as a manager! There's not a lot of weak points in their side.
Spurs did it but it's a very rare occurrence. You have to defend well against them and ensure you're the side who take the chances, because it's rarely an open game against them.
I'm sure Mourinho will attempt the parking of the bus tactics and they're that strong that most teams would be happy to do that at home.
I honestly think you can stop Chelsea. There's no guarantee they're going to beat Manchester United. They're not playing particularly well but with Eden Hazard's form they are getting the job done.
Spurs beat them fairly comfortably. It's the boldness to go and take them on and they're vulnerable in the wide areas. I did the Manchester City game last week and Pep Guardiola's men were the better side but just couldn't grind out the right result.
I'd love to see the stats on how many changes Conte has had to make. It just seems to be Cesc Fabregas rotating with Nemanja Matic and Kurt Zouma occasionally coming in, so he hasn't had much to deal with.
They're a better version of what Leicester did last season in terms of player quality and you'd do very well to name 15 players that they have had to use regularly.
