Premier League 2018/19 Tactical Preview: Manchester United vs Chelsea

As the Premier League season comes to a close, the third and fourth place is still up for grabs. This tactical analysis preview will look to explain the intricacies between Manchester United and Chelsea.

Whilst the Premier League crown surely belongs to Liverpool or Manchester City, the race for third and fourth are yet to be decided with Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United and Arsenal all still alive in the race for a place in next seasons Champions League.

All four teams have struggled for consistency throughout the season as we’ve seen with Manchester United under José Mourinho and later Ole Gunnar Solskjær or Arsenal’s rollercoaster form.

As the table can attest, three points separate both Manchester United and Chelsea. The Red Devils are sixth behind Arsenal. Manchester United needed a win against their arch-rivals Manchester City but failed to deliver. That ended a disastrous week after being humiliated by Everton on Sunday.

Chelsea have had a dramatic few weeks with Maurizio Sarri seemingly redeeming himself with wins against West Ham and Brighton in the Premier League. He has also guided Chelsea to the Europa League semi-finals after a 5-3 aggregate victory over Slavia Prague. A loss to Liverpool two weeks ago overshadowed a positive run but were not expected to stop a rampant Liverpool. Last week’s match against Burnley was an opportunity squandered for Chelsea to take third. Sarri may never admit it, but he has adapted and changed his approach.

Not only has he altered his tactics and tweaked his system he has brought about personnel changes that have been long awaited. The Italian coach finally delivered on his promise of playing the young Chelsea stars by starting Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in recent weeks. Andreas Christensen has also seen more play time and the trio even started a game together for the first time.