After six straight league wins for Manchester United, the team managed by Louis Van Gaal seems to be playing the way he wanted it from the beginning of the season. Next up are the Premier League current leaders, Chelsea, a team that has not lost a league game at home since January 24 when they hosted Bradford.
That day, Jose Mourinho's team suffered a 4-2 loss which they recovered from quickly to beat Liverpool 1-0 three days later. Since their last defeat, Chelsea has gathered eight wins and five draws to stay on top of the Premier League despite having one game pending against Leicester City.
Van Gaal has already surpassed the work done by David Moyes
Manchester United currently have 65 points, one more than we collected in the whole of 2013-14 (64). #MUFC pic.twitter.com/W1TLzunvQu
— Manchester United (@ManUnitedWorld) abril 17, 2015
On the other side, Louis Van Gaal is finding the groove he wanted. He has a complicated schedule in the closing stages of the tournament, but his most recent games show the team is capable of at least qualifying for next year's Champions League.
The success of each team starts with the performance of their goalkeepers
De Gea vs Courtois – the key stats in 2014/15. #mufc pic.twitter.com/35sGRK83hB
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) abril 17, 2015
This is the second time the Dutch Iron reaches a six-game-winning streak. The first time it happened at the end of last year between a 1-0 loss against Manchester City and a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa. In their current streak, they have beaten both teams 4-2 and 3-1 respectively. They only lost against Arsenal in the F.A. Cup.
Manchester United has scored 12 goals in their last four games and only received four. Meanwhile, Chelsea has seven goals in favor and four against them in the same amount of games. Currently, Chelsea's offensive power is compromised because their leading goal scorer, Diego Costa (19), is out with an injury.
The Red Devils have been on fire lately, but there is a chance that injuries stop that fire. For the game against Chelsea, Michael Carrick, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones have been ruled out.
LVG claimed Mata is most likely to play against his former team
I got back to London a few times, but this one it's different... Big game, lots of memories, great day of football! pic.twitter.com/u4xEKNkAUZ
— Juan Mata García (@juanmata8) abril 17, 2015
Jose Mourinho, who had earlier claimed it would be easy to beat their upcoming rival, has backed down on those words. He now claims that even with the extensive injury list from the Manchester side, LVG's team must be taken seriously.
"I disagree (Man United is weakened) because their squad is amazing, in numbers, players, experience, solutions," Mou said.
Costa is the only one ruled out for Saturday's game
There are no other injury concerns ahead of tomorrow's game. #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) abril 17, 2015
Paris Saint Germain was the last team able to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. In that game, PSG played wit only ten men for most of the match after Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent out. Man United could learn from the French side's display and aim to get three points out of the London-based team.
A win for Manchester United could put them in second place ahead of Arsenal is the latter one
The Special One knows the formula needed to win the Premier League
Jose: 'The safest option is to win 11 points, which we cannot do in two games but we can do in seven. We will change nothing.' #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) abril 17, 2015