Catching up with Manchester City looks like an impossible mission for the English Premier League teams, the league leader is sitting comfortably on the top of the League table with 13 points after defeating West ham yesterday at the Etihad Stadium.
Due to their midweek Champions League encounter against Borussia Moenchengladbach on the 24th of Feb, we weren't expecting much from the team. The traveling stress does affect the players and it sometimes affects them in their League matches during the weekend but that wasn't the case for City because they always put in their everything to grind out the result they want from every match.
City scored twice in the league match to extend their lead on the table and since they are unstoppable, Manchester United would just have to keep up with them in the second position just in case there are opportunities for them to overtake their City rival.
In the quest to maintain the second spot, Manchester United will be traveling to Stamford Bridge to battle against Chelsea later today. I would have called this an easy one for Manchester United but Chelsea's performance in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid wouldn't make me write off Chelsea. Understandably, the Spanish side has injury problems but an attack led by Joao Felix and Luis Suarez not getting a single shot on target against an inconsistent side like Chelsea is something to be mindful of.
Today's encounter matters a lot to both sides because the match would be making a big difference for any team that ends up with the whole three points.
Chelsea currently sit fifth on the League table and getting a victory in the match would see them break into the top four again, they were among the top four but had to drop due to their inconsistency in the League.
I would say Manchester United needs the victory more because they have the same point but separated by goal difference with Leicester City who sits third on the League table, they will be hosting Arsenal later today at the Kings Power Stadium which could turn out to be a situation where they will climb to the second if they win and United might drop if they can't get all three points at Stamford Bridge.
I recently stopped predicting match results in the Premier League based on the team's previous match performance, the league is so complicated that an under-rated team would just step up to defeat a big team.
Between Chelsea and Manchester United, I would have loved to say United is currently the better performing team but due to their inconsistency, Chelsea deserves to the called the better side between the two teams.
Chelsea has won four and played a draw in their last five league games and I would say this is a very much better statistic compared to Manchester United that won just two and drew three matches against Arsenal, Everton, and West Brom.
The first league of this encounter ended in a goalless draw at the Old Trafford Stadium, I wouldn't want to judge the first performance with what we would be seeing today because Manchester United wasn't in a good shape then and I expected Chelsea to seize the opportunity of United terrible form then to grab all three points but they couldn't, probably they are waiting to perform the magic at Stamford Bridge.
Their last five meetings in the English Premier League have ended with no win for Chelsea and that would be something to be worried about for the Chelsea fans because Manchester United still got a victory in their last visit to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea was able to get three draws out of their last five meetings against United in the League while United won the remaining two matches. I said earlier that no one can be underrated and Chelsea dumping Manchester United out of the FA Cup last season is a perfect example to explain that saying, the Blues defeated United 3-1 but they ended up losing the final to Arsenal last season.
Today's encounter is a very crucial one and we will be seeing both teams put on a fantastic display at Stamford Bridge, Manchester United won't be joking as Chelsea will be ready to continue with their superb performance in the league run.
Note: the display image was designed using Canva app.
In all honesty, I don't think the match lived up to its billing. This is the kind of match both team should win if they really want to mount a serious challenge. 12 points off City, they have simply run away with the title hahaha.