United are, of course, three points ahead in the Premiership. However, if points were given for the 20 games in all competitions this season, Chelsea would actually be ahead:
Chelsea - P 20 W15 D2 L3 (47 points); Utd - P20 W15 D1 L4 (46 points). (!!!)
United's record this season in all competitions is played 20, won 15, drawn 1, lost 4, scored 38, conceded 12 with 9 clean sheets. They have failed to score on four occasions (all four defeats have all been 0-1). Chelsea have played 21 games (including the Community Shield) with 15 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats. We have scored 38 (same as United) and conceded 13 with 12 clean sheets. Wednesday was the first occasion Chelsea failed to score this season.
Man Utd have not conceded more than one goal in a game for 15 matches. The 3-2 win against Celtic at home was the last (and only) occasion on 13th September.
(Pause: I feel so statistically well-informed like a true and die-hard football fan reading all these.)
In 14 Premiership meetings at Old Trafford both Chelsea and United have won four each and there have been six draws scoring 20 and conceding 19.
United won last season's encounter with a goal from Darren Fletcher (see below). In United's last home game the previous season, champions Chelsea won 3-1 with goals from Tiago, Gudjohnsen and Joe Cole. Ruud van Nistelrooy had put the reds ahead early in the game after United had formed a guard of honour to applaud Chelsea on to the pitch.
The last five years in the Premiership:
2001/02 Man Utd third, 77 pts, Chelsea sixth 64 pts
2002/03 Man Utd champions, 83 pts, Chelsea fourth, 67 pts
2003/04 Chelsea runners-up, 79 pts, Man Utd third, 75 pts
2004/05 Chelsea champions, 95 pts, Man Utd third, 77 pts
2005/06 Chelsea champions, 91 pts, Man Utd runners-up, 83 pts.
(Do I see a pattern here? If I saw it right, then I know how things will end for Chelsea.)
Man Utd's last six games
Nov 1 FC Copenhagen (UCL a) L0-1
Nov 4 Portsmouth (h) W3-0
Nov 7 Southend (League Cup a) L0-1
Nov 11 Blackburn (a) W1-0
Nov 18 Sheffield Utd (a) W2-1
Nov 21 Celtic (UCL a) L0-1
(Yes, I am emphasizing their losses.)
Chelsea qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League despite losing 1-0 to Werder Bremen on Wednesday. Jose Mourinho made four changes, bringing in Boulahrouz for the injured Carvalho, Ballack for the suspended Lampard, and Joe Cole and Mikel for Shevchenko and Robben.
Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard have featured in every Premiership match this season. Michael Essien has played every minute of all 21 games in all competitions.
(This guy surely creates an impact to the team!)
If selected, Frank Lampard will make his 200th Premiership appearance for Chelsea and Claude Makelele his 100th Premiership start. (200! 200! 200! Lampardo!)
Didier Drogba is the country's top scorer with 14 in all competitions from Peter Crouch on nine and Darren Bent, Kanu and Louis Saha on eight. He also heads the Premiership scoring chart together with Kanu with eight goals. (DIDIYEY DROWGBA!)
United are one of only seven clubs to have been ever present since the Premier League was formed in 1992. The others are Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, and Tottenham.
Chelsea's overall record against Man Utd in all competitions is: played 144, won 39, drawn 41, lost 64. (To be honest, this is a pretty lousy record, 27% win, 28% draw, and 44% lose, which makes me worry more about tomorrow's game, which makes me think if I did the right thing playing my banker on the ManU-Chelsea match, of course, in favor of the Blues.)
Head to head in the League at Old Trafford: played 64, won 17, drawn 22, lost 25. (Still a pretty bad record. Tomorrow should start the winning streak, whether playing against ManU, home or away, or against any other team in the Premiership, leading to the season's hat-trick of Champs title.)
LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME
Manchester United 1 Chelsea 0
Barclays Premiership, Sunday November 6th 2005 at Old Trafford
Man Utd (4-4-2) van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea; Fletcher, Smith, Scholes, Ronaldo; Rooney, van Nistelrooy (c) (Park 81).
Scorer Fletcher (31)
Booked Smith, Ronaldo, Fletcher
Chelsea(4-3-3) Cech; Ferreira, Gallas, Terry (c), Del Horno (C Cole 78); Essien (Gudjohnsen 54), Makelele, Lampard; J Cole (Wright-Phillips 73), Drogba, Duff.
Booked Drogba, Ferreira, Gallas, Makelele
Referee Graham Poll.
Crowd 67,864.
This was Chelsea's first defeat in 41 Premiership games.
From Chelsea's spankin kick-ass site.
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