Shock Premier League stat is dreadful omen for Man Utd ahead of trip to Chelsea with top four hopes hanging by a thread
MANCHESTER UNITED are looking to turn the top-flight form book upside down by winning away at Chelsea.
Erik ten Hag’s team are hoping to complete a Premier League double over the Blues for only the second time.
And Chelsea have certainly struggled against the Red Devils.
They are winless in the last 12 league meetings, having drawn seven and lost five.
That is their longest run without a league victory against United.
But if the side from Old Trafford are to claim just a second double over the West Londoners in the Prem, then they will have to end a shock stat that has emerged over the past month.
Top four rivals Aston Villa were hammered 4-1 at Man City in last night’s late kick off.
That means that it has now been 25 matches – over 2,250 minutes – since an away side celebrated a win in the Premier League.
The last club to do so was Tottenham, who romped to a 4-0 triumph at Villa on March 10.
Therefore, United will have to smash that pretty mental stat to bits in order to claim the three points at Stamford Bridge.
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But there are also a number of other statistics that are going against them as they look to avoid a joint-record 12th Prem defeat of the campaign.
Despite it being a poor campaign for Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea, they have only lost once on home turf in their last 15 games in all competitions.
And United have only won once in their past nine top-flight visits to the capital city, losing four of the last six.
Meanwhile, Ten Hag confirmed United have launched an internal investigation into their ongoing injury crisis ahead of the clash.
That was after defenders Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof became the latest casualties.
United are currently sixth in the table going into today’s game.
They are nine points behind fifth-placed Tottenham, who have played a game more.
But they know that anything less than a victory will make it almost impossible to reach Villa, who are fourth.
Unai Emery’s men have 59 points, 11 more than United, although they have currently played two matches more.
Man Utd vs Chelsea - so what? They’re sinking towards irrelevance, says Dave Kidd
By Dave Kidd
MANCHESTER UNITED and Chelsea were the two dominant forces in English football when Sir Alex Ferguson and Roman Abramovich were in their pomp.
But when they meet at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night it will be a ‘so what?’ match between dysfunctional clubs lurching in and out of crisis.
On Saturday, Erik ten Hag’s United failed to build on an FA Cup win over Liverpool and were poor in the 1-1 draw at Brentford.
And Mauricio Pochettino put out a Blues side that failed to beat ten-man Burnley at home.
Will either be in a job next season? And will it make much difference?
United have only won a League Cup in seven years and Chelsea’s last domestic honour was the 2018 FA Cup.
Both clubs are sinking towards irrelevance.