Manchester United and Chelsea will go head-to-head on Sunday in what could prove to be a pivotal battle in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Just three points separate fourth-placed Chelsea and sixth-placed Manchester United before their Premier League clash, with Arsenal sandwiched in between them in the table.
The three sides look set to be fighting it out for one remaining Champions League spot, with Tottenham Hotspur perhaps just out of reach in third, and United could effectively be out of the running, should they suffer defeat to Maurizio Sarri’s men.
However, Paul Merson is expecting Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men to keep their hopes alive with a vital three points – and believes Marcus Rashford will be the man to make the difference.
‘I expect United to win, believe it or not,’ Merson told Sky Sports.
‘I think Rashford will be too much for the Chelsea defence. I watch Chelsea, if [Eden] Hazard doesn’t turn up it’s difficult, or if teams keep him quiet. You’ve seen teams do it before.
‘I don’t think there’s a lot between the teams, [N’Golo] Kante being injured changes things, if he does play then they might have too much energy for United’s midfield but otherwise, Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be moving out to the left, Jorginho is never going to get you a goal and [Mateo] Kovacic – I can’t remember when he last had a shot.
‘It’s just because of Rashford, no other reason, I think he’ll have too much for David Luiz and [Andreas] Christensen.’
It will be a good weekend all round inside Manchester United if Merson’s predictions come to fruition as he’s backing Leicester to beat Arsenal, too.
‘I just don’t know with Arsenal,’ he added. ‘They go to Napoli, keep a clean sheet against the second-best team in Italy, and then let in six goals in two league games. You’re watching it and thinking what’s changed? It’s so up and down.
‘Sometimes you look at it and think the manager does an unbelievable job to get them where they are, but then you look at him playing [Mesut] Ozil and [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan in midfield for Wolves away, which he did at Everton too where they never looked like winning, but the penny didn’t drop.
‘I’ve got to go for Leicester though. [Jamie] Vardy will be too much for the Arsenal defence, they’ve got pace. Look at Leicester since Brendan has gone there, they find it hard to break teams down. But when teams like Arsenal come in who are going to have a go, they’re a dangerous animal. Very dangerous. Arsenal have half an eye on next Thursday as well which doesn’t help.’
