Ruud van Nistelrooy and Manchester United take on Enzo Maresca’s in-form Chelsea side in their first Premier League game of the post-Erik ten Hag era at Old Trafford on Sunday.
By Alex Roberts
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co finally read the writing on the walls and decided to part ways with Ten Hag after the Dutchman led the 20-time champions to their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.
Sporting boss Rúben Amorim will be taking over once he’s got his pesky contract obligations out of the way, but for the time being, former-United striker Van Nistelrooy is the man who has been entrusted with the responsibility of guiding 14th placed United to a win over fifth placed Chelsea.
Expect a totally different Chelsea side
Since taking over in the summer, Maresca has implemented a two-squad system at Chelsea, utilising their immense depth and favouring certain players for certain competitions.
The Italian made eleven changes for their 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle in midweek and will likely do the same against Manchester United as they seek to keep their good league form going.
Enzo Fernández is the latest casualty to Maresca’s methods, after captaining Chelsea in their first league game against Man City, the central midfielder has been dropped with his manager preferring a double pivot of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in the recent games against Liverpool and Newcastle.
Ruud van Nistelrooy gets Manchester United scoring
United scored more goals in their 5-2 League Cup win over Leicester than they had in their previous four games across all competitions under Ten Hag.
Brazilian midfielder Casemiro has scored in consecutive games for the first time since joining the club, netting in their 2-1 Premier League defeat to West Ham, and bagging a beautiful brace in midweek.
With just eight goals from their opening nine league games, United have the second worst-scoring record in the league, two more than strugglers Crystal Palace and Southampton.
If there’s one thing Van Nistelrooy knows, however, it’s how to find the back of the net.
Cole Palmer set to haunt Man United again?
The last time these two faced off, Palmer stole the show, clutching victory from the jaws of defeat with a remarkable added time winner to round off a hattrick and secure a vital three points for Chelsea in their 4-3 win.
Chelsea aren’t quite as chaotic under Maresca as they were under Mauricio Pochettino last season, but the England international has continued to thrive at the club.
Not even robotic goal machine Erling Haaland or the Egyptian king Mohamed Salah have had more goal involvements than Palmer so far this season. His goal in their 2-1 win over Newcastle on matchday nine has him top of the tree with 12 goals and assists.
Prediction
This one could go either way. United are somewhat of an unknown quantity now that Ten Hag has been given the boot, and despite their impressive start to the season, Chelsea have lost 100% of their games against the traditional ‘top six’ so far this season.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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