Michael Carrick makes 4 big changes | Predicted Man Utd XI vs Chelsea after Leny Yoro injury

Manchester United take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in tonight’s Premier League encounter.

The Red Devils are winless in their last two league matches. They played out a draw at Bournemouth before suffering a 2-1 loss to Leeds United at Old Trafford.

United now face a testing challenge against the Blues on the road amid a major crisis in the central defensive department after the latest injury to Leny Yoro.

The Red Devils are currently third in the standings, seven points ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea.

They need to avoid a loss to ensure that the Blues don’t get back into the Champions League race.

We expect at least four changes to the starting XI from the Leeds defeat.

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Predicted Line-up:

Senne Lammens has been an undisputed starter in goal for the Red Devils since his debut in October. The Belgian star is guaranteed to continue between the sticks. He will be eyeing his sixth clean sheet of the league campaign.

In defence, there could be three changes from the Leeds loss. Yoro has been ruled out with an injury in training, while Lisandro Martinez is suspended after his sending-off on Monday night. Harry Maguire is still serving a domestic suspension, while Matthijs de Ligt is out injured.

With four centre-backs sidelined, midfielder Casemiro could be tasked to play as a makeshift central defender alongside teenager Ayden Heaven. Heaven is poised to make his first start under interim manager Michael Carrick.

The other change could happen at right-back. Noussair Mazraoui had an average outing on his return to the starting line-up against Leeds. There could be a straight swap with Diogo Dalot being reinstated on the right side of United’s defence. Luke Shaw is expected to continue at left-back.

We would have personally dropped Manuel Ugarte from United’s midfield tonight, but the defensive crisis means that he should continue in the XI. Kobbie Mainoo was back in team training earlier this week, and we anticipate him to partner Ugarte in the centre of the park.

In the final third, Bruno Fernandes is a nailed-on starter from the number 10 role. The Portuguese bagged his 17th clean sheet of the league campaign, and he is just three shy of the competition record.

Matheus Cunha should continue on the left wing with Benjamin Sesko upfront. The latter has netted in four of his previous seven games. His aerial presence could unsettle Chelsea’s fragile backline.

The only change in attack could be on the right wing with Amad Diallo dropping out for Bryan Mbeumo. Amad got into good scoring positions on Monday but let himself down with his finishing.

The Ivorian has not made a single goal contribution since mid-December, and it appears right to replace him with Mbeumo, who has stood out in the big matches for the Mancunian giants.

He has already scored against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. The Cameroonian has the big-game mentality and should return to his preferred right-wing position.

How Man Utd could line up vs Chelsea

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

Article written by Sri Aswin .