pre-match Premier League Chelsea v Man Ut

Chelsea have scored five more league goals than Manchester United so far this season - 28 to 23 - and only Arsenal have scored more than the Blues. A win for Chelsea would also open a gap of five points over last season's title-winners. How significant that lead would be at this juncture is debatable.

After 12 matches last season the gap was also five - and United went on to finish seven points clear of the Blues in May. It wasn't just defeats that killed off Chelsea's title challenge, it was the failure to force wins at home that was significant too.


Those deadlocks have been less of an issue so far under Carlo Ancelotti: amazingly, Wednesday's draw in Madrid was our first since the Community Shield against the Mancs in August.

KEY STAT
Chelsea are looking to extend our unbeaten run against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge to nine games since the Red Devils last won here in 2002.




United have often been slow starters to the Premier League campaign. Speed out of the blocks was one of the improvements Sir Alex Ferguson insisted on when he admitted that the Chelsea of 2004-6 had 'raised the bar.'

It may not seem like it while their defence is so routinely criticised, but the Red Devils are performing much better at this stage than they did last season. Their 23 goals, 25 points and goal difference of +12 compares favourably the 20, 21 and 10 accrued in mid-November 2008.

Chelsea's year-on-year statistical improvement is more marginal: 27 goals, 26 points and a goal difference of 23 last season, 28, 27 and 20 this.

What Chelsea have to do is avoid a damaging run similar to last season, when two league wins in eight matches either side of Christmas left too much to do.

That sequence ended with a dispiriting defeat at Old Trafford. Although it is the same three points lost, the three points gained when playing a 'big four' opponent is always significant. Last season, for the first time in a while, Chelsea underperformed against our closest title rivals.

No victory was recorded until the 4-1 slaughter of Arsenal at the Emirates in the middle of May. This season, in our only meeting to date, we have already outclassed Liverpool; the Scousers, in turn, easily dispensed with United 2-0, and United have seen off Arsenal.

The tactical battle will be a fascinating element on Sunday, with the younger man at Chelsea having a more settled line-up than his 67-year-old opponent in the opposite dugout. Both will be well aware that the outcome of this match will be a marker for the season, but nothing more.