Braeburn's EPL - Game of the Day, Chelsea v Man Utd with TIPS!

Any Manchester United game these days comes with the potential to veer into some new and awful calamity. Results are poor, performances are worse and the manager seems to fall out with a new player at every press conference. Yet even in this climate of doom, the visit to Chelsea at lunchtime looks particularly ripe for tragedy. Defeat at Stamford Bridge would leave United ten points away from the league's summit after just nine games and surely make José Mourinho's position untenable. Could the Blues fans be cheering the ultimate and final demise of their hero at the Bridge?

Will José be smiling later today? Nah, probably not, eh.

Image

Whatever excuses Mourinho comes up with for United's terrible start to the season money should not be one of them. Since the Portuguese took over, United have a net transfer spend higher than all of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. Only Manchester City have spent more money in the same period of time, it's just that theirs has been invested more wisely, on players who fit the system Pep Guardiola knows he wants his team to play.

Here are a few more truths that Mourinho cannot deny.

1. At the time of writing Manchester United sit below Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the table. By Monday night you might be able to add Watford, Everton and Leicester to that list.

2. They have already lost three games this season, two of those defeats came to teams in the bottom half of the table.

3. Only three teams have conceded more goals than United so far this season, that's Fulham, Huddersfield and Cardiff for the record. Remember when defence was a Mourinho speciality?

The table makes bleak viewing for United fans and it could get worse before it gets better.

Image

It is the point about the defence that makes today's game especially interesting. In past seasons Mourinho has approached away games with the big boys with the attitude, 'we take home the point we arrived with'. This might not be very Manchester United in Ferguson terms, but it makes sense not to give your rivals three points if you are inhabiting the same areas of the table. The difference today is two-fold. Firstly, is a point enough to save Mourinho? A draw is still likely to leave United nine points off the top by tomorrow night. Secondly is Manchester United's defence good enough to roll up at free-scoring Chelsea and park the bus?

This seems to leave United with only one option. Defeat is unthinkable but a draw may simply not be on the menu. Could it be that a Man United game away to a big rival might actually be entertaining? Will José, the slayer of attractive football, be forced to send out a United team built to attack, attack, attack? Normally my money would be on a low-scoring draw here but today things might just be different.

Mourinho was a great manager once, no doubt about it, but now he is a spent force. When this job at Manchester United ends, and I expect it to be sooner rather than later, Mourinho will be all but finished. The last of his two Champions League victories was way back in 2010 and he has failed to make a final since. Who will touch him when he is done at United? Certainly, none of the teams capable of winning Europe's greatest prize will be seeking out his services. Having José in charge of your club is an ordeal and what that leaves scars and takes time to recover from. There is never joy on a day to day basis but there used to be league titles to balance things up. Well, the titles have dried up now and joy is in even shorter supply than ever.

Suggested bets, please note this is NOT financial advice, past performance suggests that you swerve these selections entirely, I enter them here solely for the purpose of record keeping.

Chelsea v Manchester United, 12:30 (UK time), Saturday 20th October.

Over 3.5 goals, 1 points at 3.00 with Betfair Exchange.
Chelsea to win 3-2, 0.5 points at 32.00 with Betfair Exchange.
Man Utd to win 3-2, 0.5 points at 55.00 with Betfair Exchange.
Draw 2-2, 1 point at 18.50 with Betfair Exchange.