These 3 Things Will Help Chelsea To Pick Up All 3 Points Against Manchester United

Conte’s team hasn’t looked the same since they lost their perfect start against Swansea a couple of months ago, and even with a couple of emphatic wins against Hull City and the defending champions Leicester City, there’s still a lot of room for improvement for the Blues if they want to be back in the European competition next year.

The blue side is currently sitting at the fifth position in this year’s Premier League’s table, trailing only Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, with a difference of just three points between the leaders and them.

Even if the results have been there for Conte’s side, the performance of his team is miles away from expected at the start of the season, and they’ve been bailed out by some late strikes by the controversial striker Diego Costa for most of the season.

Having said that, we’ll take a look at three main adjustments the Italian boss will need to do in order to keep the three points at home when they host Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United team this weekend.

1: Mess with Zlatan’s head:

The always controversial and talented Zlatan Ibrahimovic is known for four main reasons: being one of the most narcissistic players in the history of the sport, his incredible athleticism even at his age (35 years old), his goal scoring ability and his lack of patience and tolerance with opponent defenders.

Zlatan gets easily frustrated and if anyone gets physical with him, he’ll go nuts and totally lose his focus, as we’ve seen through most of his career, especially during his time at Barcelona, and even lastMondayy when he faced Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip during his team’s draw at Anfield. If you make him complain instead of playing, you have a decent chance against his team.

2: Keep Pogba in the center of the field:

We all know Paul Pogba is probably the most talented player in his position right now, but he’s having a tough time to adjust to Mourinho’s system. Even if he’s given some freedom to move around the pitch and create space for Rashford or Zlatan, he spends most of the time alongside Ander Herrera with some defensive responsibilities.

This guy has the ability of knocking down shots from short and long range, and his passing skills are completely of the hook. If you let Paul Pogba have some space and come anywhere near your box, you’re definitely in trouble; so Conte’s team will have to try and keep him chasing the ball instead of receiving it, just like Liverpool did last monday, and N’golo Kante is just the right man for the job.

3: Start Cesc Fabregas:

Last but not least, Conte will want to include Cesc in his starting XI, even if he isn’t his favourite player. Fabregas know Mourinho’s tactics very well, as he has been in the opposite end of the pitch several times against the “Special One” before joining him at Chelsea.

Besides, Cesc’s level has been absolutely superb everytime he has stepped on the pitch, finding the open guy and creating dozens of opportunities for the red hot Diego Costa. On top of that, his connection with Eden Hazard is clear and effective, and the Belgian will be eager to have revenge on Mourinho after the worst season of his promising career the past year.

Defeating Manchester United won’t be an easy task at all, but if Antonio Conte follows this little guide, they might get another victory at Stamford Bridge, which would be the first one against the Red Devils since 2014.