The stakes may not be as high as when they last met on a rainy May night in Moscow, but Manchester United FC's visit to Chelsea FC on Sunday is already a fixture the English and European champions can barely afford to lose.
Chelsea impressive
Seventeen weeks and four days since United's penalty shoot-out triumph over the Londoners in the UEFA Champions League final, Sir Alex Ferguson's team will step out at Stamford Bridge knowing they must put their early-season stutters behind them. Wednesday's goalless home draw with Villarreal CF left United with just one victory in six matches in all competitions, if you discount the penalty shoot-out that provided a winning coda to their 0-0 draw with Portsmouth FC in the FA Community Shield. With this in mind, Old Trafford midfielder Darren Fletcher admits his team will face a "massive task" to regain the lost ground should they lose to a Chelsea team performing impressively under new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.
'Get back on track'
Chelsea lead the Premier League with three wins and a draw and opened their UEFA Champions League programme with a 4-0 victory over FC Girondins de Bordeaux. If the Londoners defeat United they will open a nine-point gap on their rivals – a significant lead at this early stage, despite United's game in hand. Speaking after United's frustrating goalless home draw with Villarreal CF on Wednesday, Fletcher said his team had to deliver – and fast. "It's got to happen soon or else we're going to have a massive task, we're going to be too many points behind and it's going to be really hard to lose any more games. We don't want that this early in the season because the Premier League is a tough league and we can't afford to lose too much ground. We have to get back on track against Chelsea and there is no bigger game for us to do that."
Spark missing
United, who last week suffered a first league defeat against arch-rivals Liverpool FC since 2004, have yet to find their spark this term, scoring just four goals in six games. The absence of Cristiano Ronaldo – who made his comeback as a second-half substitute against Villarreal – has been one obvious factor while new striker Dimitar Berbatov has yet to find his feet after his deadline-day arrival from Tottenham Hotspur FC and was missing on Wednesday through injury.
No panicking
Fletcher, who scored in each of United's opening two Premier League games, said it was too early to panic, pointing to his side's similarly low-scoring start to 2007/08. "We've got too much ability and talent in this squad for panicking. The same thing happened at the start of last season with lots of 1-0s but eventually the goals came so hopefully that's the same this year. We know it's a really tough match against Chelsea. They have looked good and obviously they are full of confidence but we'll go there and hopefully, having not won for a couple of games, we will rectify that. It is a massive game – they don't come much bigger than away to Chelsea but we've got big-game players and I'm sure we'll be alright."
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