the blog of manchester united

Manchester United welcome Chelsea for their first meeting season with Avram Grant’s in charge for the first time in the wake of Jose Mourinho departure. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s able to please Abramovich with a more pleasant style to watch, while United is close to full-strength first XI with Rooney returns for the second game after the metatarsal horror and Ronaldo is hitting top form with a goal in Lisbon in midweek.

Sir Alex has stated that he’ll start with the same squad that get the W at Sporting, although it remains to be seen whether Tevez will play alongside Rooney in place of Nani. I thought that would give United a more cutting edge with Giggs back to his left wing and Tevez playing just behind Rooney. United though will be missing Hargreaves, who is still not able to recover fully from the injury suffered during England setup, and Neville who will be only a week away from making a comeback after a lengthy spell.

Chelsea, on the other hand, will be missing two key players in Lampard and Drogba, but this will give Shevchenko an opportunity to show his worth especially that the Special One is now gone. The “normal one”, as Grant proclaimed himself, will definetely have a huge task of mobilizing this squad especially that Ambravomich will certainly want to get his pal, Shevchenko, on the pitch and do great things for Chelsea. Easier than said though, football is a game of momentum, and Andriy might’ve been one of the greatest players that AC Milan has ever had, but English football is a different animal. Its speed, relentless pursuit for the ball, and intensity might’ve been a little too much for someone his age to adapt and especially come back strong after being let down and losing confidence for over more than a season.

blogmanutd.com predicts:

The timing of Mourinho’s departure (or rather sacking) couldn’t be worse. If Abramovich thinks that Grant might’ve the charisma to overturn the crisis in Chelsea, he might not understand that very well. Chelsea didn’t have crisis, it was a crisis between him (and the Chelsea management boards) with Mourinho. To expect Grant to rally this troops and come to Old Trafford and record a famous win, while in the process playing football pleaseant for the eyes, is something a little too much to ask on a guy that has never been a head coach in England. People might say, that’s exactly what happpend to West Ham when they fired Pardew ahead of United’s game (where they eventually win the shocker 1-0 with Curbishley in the charge for the first time). But what’s not right that statement is that, Curbishley is a highly regarded manager with proven results (you can see where Charlton is after he left), and Pardew has lost the dressing room at that time. And to top it all, the game is at Upton Park, which is not an easy place to play.

Having said that, United shouldn’t expect to just cruise against Chelsea. Terry will be there, Essien will be there, Cole, Malouda, the squad remains the same. One thing though that will make United a better chance, is that they will play in front of 76000 full capacity Old Trafford that will keep singing all night long to support United. That, combined with the return of Rooney and Ronaldo, will be the key decider for United to pile further misery on Chelsea. It’ll be the same tight game, but United will have the edge because Chelsea won’t be as “boring” as they used to be, they might not as resilient as they used to be, and to top it all, they might not have that arrogance any longer. MAN UTD 3 - Chelsea 0