Saturday’s late kick-off will be a thriller, with fourth-placed Chelsea facing off against fifth-placed Manchester United. Both teams will be hoping they can win the game and close the gap on the top three teams, with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City joint on 23 points and league leaders Arsenal on 27 points.

Both teams played midweek fixtures before the weekend game, with Chelsea drawing 0-0 with Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium at 19:30 on Wednesday, and Manchester United beating the aforementioned Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Old Trafford at 20:15, also on Wednesday.

Chelsea’s starting 11 featured some heavy rotation. However, Erik ten Hag’s team was virtually unchanged, even though his Manchester United side are facing two top-four rivals consecutively in the space of four days. Both teams have a game in hand over the top three teams and may be looking at Saturday’s fixture as the chance to convert their game-in-hand into points on the table.

Both teams come into the game in good form, however, Graham Potter’s side look considerable favourites, owing in part to the fact they are playing at home but have also won five games in a row until their goalless draw against Brentford on Wednesday.

Manchester United are also in good form, however, as the Red Devils have taken a very respectable 19 points from a possible 24 since they beat Liverpool on August 22nd, only losing to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and drawing with Eddie Howe’s Newcastle, including their dominant victory over Tottenham on Wednesday.

The Red Devils were by far the better side against Tottenham, and it can be believed a similar performance against Chelsea may be enough to take the three points, however, Chelsea should put up a much better fight than the woeful Tottenham display in the midweek fixture.  The Stamford Bridge crowd could also give Chelsea that much-needed edge to take the game to Erik ten Hag’s side.

Manchester United will be looking at Chelsea's injury list and feeling slightly more confident that they can return home Saturday night with all three points. Most notably, Chelsea's star right-back talent Reece James has been sidelined for an expected two months, while £80 million summer signing Wesley Fofana is out for an undisclosed time frame. Furthermore, N'Golo Kante has undergone surgery and will be out for around four months following hamstring troubles. 

On the flip side, Manchester United are potentially going to have all of their recent starters available, with only Anthony Martial and Christian Eriksen doubts, with a lower back injury and an illness respectively. Axel Tuanzebe and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are being assessed without specific return dates being stated.

Erik ten Hag may see the injuries to James, Kante and Fofana as a gift, as all three are incredibly talented footballers, the absence of whom will be surely felt by Chelsea over the next few fixtures. Both sides are at risk of injuries midweek also, however, this may result in rotated elevens by both managers.

  • Predicted Lineups

Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Silva, Koulibaly, Chalobah, Cucurella; Kovacic, Jorginho; Sterling, Mount, Aubameyang

Manchester United: De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, McTominay, Antony; Bruno. F, Sancho, Rashford

  • Players to watch

For Chelsea, Mason Mount comes into this game in fine form, including scoring a stunning free-kick as part of a brace against Aston Villa in the previous round of games. He will be the man to stop for Manchester United, as he has been firing on all cylinders recently, and poses a creative threat as well as a goal threat. With such talented attackers around him like Sterling and Aubameyang, Mount will be trying to harness his creativity and create chances for his teammates to give Chelsea the best chance of beating Manchester United.

On the other hand, Lisandro Martinez is the man to watch for Manchester United. Following his big-money move from Ajax in the summer, the Argentine defender has formed a formidable partnership with Raphael Varane, keeping six clean sheets in 11 fixtures.

Martinez will have his work cut out against a very threatening Chelsea forward line, with even more options than previously mentioned including Armando Broja, Kai Havertz and Connor Gallagher. If Lisandro can keep a tight shop at the back and keep out Chelsea’s attackers, this fixture will be heavily in the favour of Manchester United, and the onus will be on the Red Devils' attacking outlets to contribute at the other end of the pitch.

  • Match Details

Where is the fixture being player?

The fixture is being played at Stamford Bridge, the home ground of Chelsea FC.

What time is kick-off?

The fixture kicks off at 5.30pm BST on Saturday afternoon, the 22nd October.

How can I watch the fixture?

The fixture is being streamed by Sky Sports, requiring a Sky Sports subscription to watch the game live.

  • My predictions

I believe Graham Potter’s Chelsea will be too well-drilled to concede anywhere near as many chances against Manchester United as Tottenham did midweek. I think experienced defenders like Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly will effectively nullify the threat of Manchester United’s attackers and this will allow Chelsea to focus on creating their own chances, therefore my prediction is a 2-0 victory for the blues, with a goal apiece from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Raheem Sterling, and a man of the match performance from Mason Mount, creating a bucketload of chances for the goal scorers.