Prediction & odds for the game: Manchester United (7/5) v Chelsea (7/4)

When: Saturday, 24th October @ 5.30pm K.O

Where: Old Trafford

Manchester United and Chelsea will meet in the Premier League on Saturday with both clubs already having a lot to lose at this early stage of the season.

Manchester United

While the Red Devils may have had a few positive results here and there to kickstart the new campaign there has also been a whole lot of misery for the Old Trafford faithful to deal with. Many, many questions are being asked of Solskjaer and his ability to successfully lead this team forward, and yet even though they have a squad full of superstars, only a handful of them seem to be willing to fight for the badge on their shirt.

There was a nice three game spell from United that saw them beat Luton 3-0, Brighton 3-2 and then Brighton again 3-0 – but the 6-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur is a hard one to get over. They did beat Newcastle 4-1 prior to an impressive 2-1 success over Paris Saint-Germain, but they really do need to fix their defensive problems.

Chelsea

Chelsea spent big in the summer transfer window and there’s a whole lot of pressure to perform that comes alongside that. They’re starting to show some form of cohesion within their attacking ranks but they’re still leaving a whole lot to be desired at the back, and if they are serious about another push for silverware this season, they’ll have to rectify these issues sooner rather than later.

A 6-0 win over Barnsley and a 4-0 success against Crystal Palace aside, Chelsea are rapidly turning into draw specialists. They were lucky to get a point against West Brom after going 3-0 down, they drew 1-1 with Tottenham in the Carabao Cup before going out on penalties, they drew 3-3 against Southampton after surrendering a two-goal advantage and they were held to a 0-0 draw by Sevilla earlier this week in the Champions League.

Conclusion

Both teams are going to be far less reserved than usual because they both know that a win in this game, or at least avoiding defeat, is vital for their respective top four hopes this season. We think both sides will get on the scoresheet, and then, as they so often do, United will be awarded a penalty that offers them the chance to steal all three points away from the Blues. They’ll take that opportunity will both hands and they’ll ease the pressure ever so slightly on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the process.

The 2-1 scoreline we’re predicting of course means that we’ll be backing the over 2.5 goals market.

Verdict: Back the home win at odds of 7/5 and the over 2.5 goals scored at odds of 8/13 (All odds are taken from bet365).

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If you want to bet on Manchester United vs Chelsea then head on over to the betting page. Alternatively, you can check out some of the other available fixtures at the soccer predictions page ahead of what should be an exciting few months of top flight action.