Overview
Manager Ruben Amorim is determined to abandon his principles, but it is increasingly difficult to see them bring the improvement that Manchester United fans expect.
The 2025-2026 season has only passed for more than a month, but Man United have lost 2 out of 4 matches in the Premier League and were eliminated from the Carabao Cup by Grimsby Town. Their only win came at home to Burnley.
In their most recent appearance, the "Red Devils" lost 0-3 at the Etihad Stadium to Manchester City. With no Carabao Cup or European Cup games to focus on, Amorim's side had a week to look back on the missing points.
Next, Man United will host Chelsea at home, who had a 2-2 draw with Brentford last weekend.
Chelsea also just participated in the Champions League match and lost 1-3 to Bayern Munich. Enzo Maresca's side have a chance to temporarily take the lead in the Premier League if they maintain their form against Brentford. However, their current record has only stopped at 2 wins and 2 draws after 4 opening rounds.
Last week, Chelsea welcomed Cole Palmer back from injury, and he immediately left his mark against Brentford. This player scored the decisive goal after coming off the bench, bringing the total number of goals for The Blues to 46.
It was Palmer's first Premier League goal since scoring against Bournemouth in January. He has previously been a key driver for Chelsea to win the Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup.
Palmer's influence was so great that even though he only played 34 minutes and added extra time against Brentford, he had 5 shots - at least 3 more than any other Chelsea player.
Palmer's impressive form was also shown in the match against Bayern, when he scored a beautiful goal and almost doubled the gap at the end of the second half. Unfortunately, that goal was disallowed due to an offside error.
Palmer has now made 100 appearances for Chelsea, directly contributing to 73 goals (45 goals, 28 assists). Since his club's debut in September 2023, only Mohamed Salah (97) and Erling Haaland (85) have been Premier League players who have scored and assisted more than him in all competitions.
Although Palmer will certainly attract a lot of attention in the match against Man United, he is not the only threat for Chelsea.
Joao Pedro has had an impressive start after moving from Brighton for £60 million, scoring 2 goals and providing 3 assists. The Brazilian has also scored three goals in five Premier League games against Man United - no team has scored more.
While Chelsea are hoping to at least qualify for the Champions League, Man United's initial results show they are still far from that goal.
Since round 12 last season, when Amorim took charge of Man United for the first time, no Premier League team has had a worse record than the "Red Devils" (31 points after 31 matches, the goal difference is -13).
Amorim's team still has a lot to prove. They can comfort themselves by having won two of their last three home Premier League games (W1 L1), as many as they have won in their previous 11 home games (W2 D2 L7).
Head-to-head record
Man United are maintaining an unbeaten streak in their last 12 home Premier League games against Chelsea (W5 D9), since a 0-1 defeat in May 2013.
In fact, Chelsea's 18% win rate at Old Trafford in Premier League history (6/33) is the lowest of any other team they have visited at least 10 times in this tournament.
After a 1-0 win in May, Chelsea are aiming for two consecutive wins against Man United in the league, their first since a three-game winning streak between November 2009 and March 2011 under Carlo Ancelotti.
Score prediction: Man United 3-2 Chelsea
The match between Man United and Chelsea takes place at 11:30 p.m. on September 20 (Vietnam time).
