Chelsea-Manchester United lineups: Matic and Mata start against former club

Chelsea have made two changes from the win over Southampton ahead of the international break for the visit of Manchester United, with Ross Barkley dropped to the bench having scored his first goal for the club at St. Mary’s.

Mateo Kovacic returns to the starting XI in place of the England international, while Antonio Rudiger is fit to start despite struggling with injury problems in recent weeks.

The German returned to full training ahead of the visit of Manchester United in the week and his availability will be a boost to Maurizio Sarri, with the centre-back having a very positive impact on results since his arrival from Roma in 2017.

Chelsea have conceded exactly half the number of goals per game in the 33 league matches Rudiger has started in the time since (0.73 to 1.46), with Chelsea winning just five of the 13 matches he has missed. That win rate of just 38.5 per cent jumps to 66.7 per cent when the Germany international has been involved from the start.

The real shock sees Alvaro Morata given the nod over Olivier Giroud, who, likely Barkley, has been named among the substitutes.

As far as Manchester United are concerned, Nemanja Matic has been deemed fit to start against his former club despite fitness doubts of his own, though Marouane Fellaini has been unable to recover in time for the trip to Stamford Bridge.

he’s joined in the stating lineup by another ex-Blue in Juan Mata, who scored in the comeback win over Newcastle last time out but starts for the first time since August.

Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial keep their places in the starting lineup either side of Romelu Lukaku, while Luke Shaw also starts having recently signed a new long term contract at Old Trafford.

Alexis Sanchez is a substitute once more, along with Ander Herrera, who is often picked in big matches such as these but has missed out, with Mourinho naming an attacking starting XI on paper.