Chelsea v Manchester United – Preview

This Sunday’s fixture represents another trip to Wembley and a chance to banish the stuttering pre-season which has seen Chelsea fail to win any of their reserve or first team fixtures. Despite Wembley being our second home, an appearance there is still a memorable occasion and not to be sniffed at.

The traditional curtain-raiser may be regarded by some as nothing more than a glorified friendly, but the first piece of silverware is on offer plus the opportunity to strike an early psychological blow.

For rival bosses Carlo Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson, it is the last chance to watch their players in action befo…re they depart for midweek international action, a quirk of the fixture calendar which has riled many in the top flight.

Ancelotti has already bemoaned the fact that he does not feel many of his Blues squad are showing the necessary levels of fitness following their World Cup exertions this summer and a subsequently truncated pre-season programme.

Victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in mid-July has been followed by a hat-trick of defeats as Ajax, Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburg have all found the usually solid Chelsea backline surprisingly generous.

United’s tour of America featured three victories and two defeats from their five matches before the Red Devils demolished a League of Ireland XI 7-1 in their most recent outing.

One of the most enjoyable parts of any Wembley day is the atmosphere before the game, most notably the 300-500 Chelsea fans that traditionally gather at the Globe Pub on Baker Street in the heart of London from 10am onwards. This atmosphere of singing and celery throwing can make the day in itself particularly for me in previous years where I have been unable to secure a ticket.

With more fans than the pub can take turning up, the fans generally swarm the entire intersection, to give a site which must fascinate and intrigue passing tourists oblivious to the match being played later in the day. I have been lucky this year, I have got a ticket to both our Wembley appearances.

I am looking forward to what the weatherman has predicted to be a Sunny day watching Chelsea win the Charity Shield (it always is when we play at Wembley and win). Whilst the result is in theory unimportant it would be nice to win and gain a slight psychological advantage on our nearest rivals last season.

I expect Carlo Ancelotti to name his strongest side, which I imagine will be roughly as follows

Turnbull/Hilario

Ashley Cole

John Terry

Branislav Ivanovic

Jose Boswinga

Frank Lampard

Michael Essien

Jossi Benayoun

Nicholas Anelka

Florent Malouda

Soloman Kalou

As for match predictions my only hope is that the game does not go to penalties as although we won a shootout last time out in this competition, I am not sure I will ever recover from the shock of Moscow.

On a lighter note, above is a picture of Chelsea misfit Claude Pizarro having a penalty saved in 2007. This photo has the author in the background, can anyone see him?

Contributions from Ben Clynshaw of uptheChels.com your place for all the latest Chelsea news