Chelsea travels up north today to take on a Manchester United side whose manager Louis van Gaal is battling to save his job.
Chelsea were in a similar situation not so long ago as well, but since parting company with their manager Jose Mourinho have managed to pick up four valuable points following a 3-1 on the road win against Sunderland before drawing 2-2 with Watford at home on Boxing Day.
Blues interim manager Guus Hiddink needs to take advantage of the current turmoil at Old Trafford and take the fight to United, a struggling team that is unravelling after losing their fourth straight game in a row to Stoke City at the Britannia on Saturday.
Team News
Chelsea will be without striker Diego Costa, who is suspended for accumulating five bookings this season. Also missing is Spaniard Cesc Fabregas who did not travel with the team to Manchester.
Chelsea sources claimed Fabregas had a fever on Sunday night, but the Spaniard’s no-show comes on the back of a turbulent run of events that many claim will see the 28-year-old depart the club in January.
Eden Hazard could return to the starting line-up after making his comeback from the bench on Saturday, and with Costa missing and Loic Remy not fully fit the Belgium international will be called upon to bring his A-game to the proceedings.
Goalkeeper
Belgium international Thibaut Courtois will continue in goal for the Blues, with Asmir Begovic available on the bench.
Defence
Kurt Zouma looked far from impressive in the draw with Watford, which leads us to believe that we will see the regular partnership of John Terry and Gary Cahill at the back while Branislav Ivanovic and César Azpilicueta remain the preferred full-backs.
Midfield
Nemanja Matic will keep his place in the side despite being the bad boy in the draw with Watford, while without Fabregas, much to the delight of most of Chelsea’s fans, Hiddink must choose between John Obi Mikel and Ramires as to who gets the start.
Oscar and William will both start despite the penalty miss by Oscar with if fit Hazard stating in place of Spaniard Pedro.
Attack
With Diego Costa suspended, manager Guus Hiddink has two options. The most obvious of which is to play Loic Remy up front, but if the French striker is still not fully fit he could bring Pedro in on the wings and use Hazard as the Blues front man.
Summary
Given all the problems United has at the moment and their inability to score goals we think that are there for the taking. Chelsea however has problems of their own to contend with which is why we are forecasting a 1-1 draw at odds of 11/2 with Bet365.
