Chelsea vs Manchester United Predictions

• Chelsea have won five of their last six games.
• Chelsea are fighting for a top five finish, Manchester United have nothing to play for.
• United are winless in seven in the league, losing five.

Chelsea looking for top five finish

Chelsea entertain Manchester United in one of two Friday night Premier League fixtures this week and only one of these sides has something to play for domestically.

The Blues are battling for a top five finish and a place in next season’s Champions League, while United are destined to finish in the bottom half.

The Old Trafford side went down 2-0 at home to West Ham over the weekend and appear to have very little interest in picking up any more Premier League points as they put their full focus on their Europa League final date.

It could be a risky strategy as ideally teams will want to be in form going into a final that will define their season, but their European opponents Tottenham have adopted the same approach so domestic form matters for very little.

This is United’s last game before the Europa League final on May 21, with Spurs in action ay Chelsea’s top five rivals Aston Villa in Friday’s other top flight fixture.

Chelsea also have a Conference League final on the horizon but their clear focus is the top five and they come into this game as huge favourites.

Chelsea can win with room to spare

Chelsea slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle over the weekend but the first half sending off of Nicolas Jackson had a big impact.

Jackson now won’t be involved on Friday, but Chelsea still have enough attacking quality to win comfortably against a United side with little to play for and backing the hosts to cover a -1 handicap looks a decent option here.

The Blues are necessarily prolific scorers but they did hit three goals against Liverpool in their last home league game and they won 4-01 at Djurgarden earlier this month. Chelsea have six clean sheets in their last nine home games and if they can keep a shut-out they should be able to win by at least two goals against a United side who are unlikely to offer a great deal of resistance.

Fernandez a goal contender

I’m going for an ambitious 4-0 win for Chelsea as the correct score prediction, despite the fact that Enzo Maresca’s side haven’t been in free-scoring form over the last few months or so.

United have shipped four goals at Brentford and Newcastle recently and as Friday’s game comes just five days before they face Spurs in Bilbao they won’t be wanting to work too hard at Stamford Bridge.

With a few Chelsea goals expected and Jackson missing, it could pay to look a little further down the betting for a potential scorer and Enzo Fernandez stands out. The Argentina international scored against Liverpool in Chelsea’s last home league game and has been making an impact in attack, with four assists and one strike across his last five appearances in all competitions.