Chelsea will be in action tonight when they welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge in what is a huge FA Cup fifth round tie for both managers.
After the mauling at the hands of Manchester City the pressure is on Maurizio Sarri in west London – that defeat saw United and Arsenal leapfrog the Blues above them, with United now sitting in the final Champions League spot.
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It makes tonight all the more important, with a good performance and progress to the quarter-finals over a rival for the top four going someway to relieve the pressure that Sarri has started to face in recent weeks.
Thursday's Europa League tie of 32 game in Malmo saw a much-changed side from Chelsea and it's expected that the boss will go back to his more regular starters as he would for a Premier League game.
Sarri has been inflexible with his team selections this season and with this being such a pivotal week in his short Chelsea career, we expect him to go with what he knows as he looks to knock out tonight's visitors.
That means an FA Cup debut for Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal, with Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz as his centre backs in front of him, while Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta are likely to start as the full backs, regardless of Alonso's recent form.
In midfield, Ross Barkley is coming into this evening's game on the back of scoring against Malmo on Thursday, but with the second leg of that clash also this week and that Carabao Cup final against Manchester City looming on Sunday, it's more likely that we'll see Mateo Kovacic in that midfield along with Jorginho and N'Golo Kante.
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Chelsea XI: Arrizabalaga; Alonso, Rudiger, David Luiz, Azpilicueta; Kovacic, Barkley, Kante; Hazard, Pedro, Higuain
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
