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2020-21 English Premier League
23-26 October 2020
Matchday 6 of 38
Manchester United and Chelsea will meet in a heavyweight
Premier League showdown at Old Trafford on Saturday with both teams eager to make a statement of intent. Kick-off is at 18:30.
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The Red Devils bounced from an embarrassing 6-1 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur before the international break with a 4-1 win over Newcastle United this past weekend. United fell a goal behind early on, but pulled away from their hosts in the closing stages to claim all three points.
"After the last result, that made this game even bigger. Then we were 1-0 down in two minutes, that made it even more so," United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told Sky Sports.
"But we showed great resilience, great character to come back, handled the setback really well and we were led by an inspirational captain.
"We don't want to use it as an excuse, but we needed pre-season. We wanted to get to this international break with more points than we have, but now we know our season started today, because we've come up to the speed of the game."
Chelsea have shipped 63 goals in boss Frank Lampard's 43 matches at the Stamford Bridge helm with three of those coming in a 3-3 draw versus Southampton last time out.
For all of the Blues attacking powers, their defence has not been good enough of late. Timo Werner scored a brace and set up his club's third last weekend but the Germany international believes that Chelsea can forget about challenging for titles if they continue to concede as many goals as they do.
“The first half we played very well,” Werner told BBC Sport. “When you get a goal two or three minutes before half-time it is not easy. You have to think with a clear head.
“Southampton put a lot of pressure on us and pressed us high. We gave them too much in terms of opportunities. We have to win the game.
“I am happy about the goals but I want to win the game - 50% I am happy, 50% not.
“I don't know if we have a problem but in the last three games we concede six goals and it is not where we want to be, to compete for titles.
“In Germany we always say defence wins titles. If we concede so many it is hard to win games and win titles.”
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United won the corresponding fixture last season 4-0 with goals from Marcus Rashford (two), Anthony Martial and Daniel James leading the Red Devils to a comfortable win.
Manchester United vs Chelsea head-to-head statistics:
Matches played: 169
Manchester United wins: 69
Chelsea wins: 53
Draws: 47
English Premier League fixtures, matchday 6:
Friday, 23 October
21:00 - Aston Villa vs Leeds United
Saturday, 24 October
13:30 - West Ham United vs Manchester City
16:00 - Fulham vs Crystal Palace
18:30 -
Manchester United vs Chelsea
21:00 - Liverpool vs Sheffield United
Sunday, 25 October
16:00 - Southampton vs Everton
18:30 - Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Newcastle United
21:15 -
Arsenal vs Leicester City
Monday, 26 October
19:30 - Brighton & Hove Albion vs West Bromwich Albion
22:00 -
Burnley vs Tottenham Hotspur
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