Premier League Chelsea vs Manchester United

TEAM NEWS

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says that new £21m signing Nemanja Matic will not start against Manchester United.

Fellow midfielder Frank Lampard could return from a calf problem but Branislav Ivanovic remains sidelined with a knee injury.
Manchester United manager David Moyes has ruled out strikers Wayne Rooney (groin) and Robin van Persie (thigh) for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
Defender Fabio serves the last of his three-match ban.
The two sides have experienced contrasting fortunes this season. With six league defeats United are seventh in the table, while Chelsea know victory will see them move to within two points of leaders Arsenal.
Despite overseeing a troubled start to his reign as United boss, Moyes has insisted his side can still be title contenders.
"There are still plenty of games to go," he said. "We have got a long way to go to catch up but we have got to believe there's a chance."
Opposite number Mourinho is in his second spell at Chelsea - having left in 2007 after winning two Premier League titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups.
The Portuguese insisted his club are "not desperate" to win the title this season, despite looking to extend a four-game winning run in the league.
"We are making a transition between the Chelsea of the last decade and Chelsea of the next decade," Mourinho told BBC Football Focus. "We want stability and not to lose our winning DNA, so we are doing both things at the same time, but we will try to fight for the title until the end.
"This is a period in time I can build a very, very good team, not just me but the club, board and the owner."

MATCH PREVIEW

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. It's the tale of Mourinho versus Manchester United.
Chapter one started with a mad March hare-like sprint down the Old Trafford touchline back in the spring of 2004 as Costinha's last-minute goal for FC Porto won a Champions League second-round tie.

Chapter two, five months later, was Mourinho's first fixture in English football; it ended in a Chelsea win.

Turn the pages and the plot has thickened as these games against United seem to stand like landmarks measuring the highs and lows of Mourinho's story; bringing one of his conspicuous failures when at Inter, one of his major successes at Real Madrid.
In all, with four clubs, Mourinho has faced Manchester United 17 times, losing only twice.
The latest meeting also went the Portuguese's way. Back in August he travelled to Old Trafford with getting a draw plainly on his agenda. He stifled the life out of United and the game and got the goalless stalemate he wanted.
Mourinho's plan for these games against his biggest rivals seems to be to draw away and win at home, and it's working. Chelsea also drew 0-0 in a tedious pre-Christmas bore-fest at Arsenal, drew at Spurs with 10-men and they've beaten Manchester City and Liverpool at the Bridge. So far, so good.
Can Manchester United derail the master plan? It would be the best result yet for David Moyes at United if they do, easily surpassing the crushing victory in Leverkusen.
If United were to lose it would leave them 12 points adrift of Chelsea with only 16 more games to play and surely with far too much to do to even get a mention in the final chapter of the title story.
Even a United win wouldn't catapult them back into the title reckoning, but it could do a huge amount to repair their damaged confidence.
United have won five of their last six league games and are certainly entitled to believe that the top four is an achievable goal. But if they're to do that they need some landmarks wins of their own somewhere. Stamford Bridge would be the best place to start.