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Chelsea have made six changes as Roberto Di Matteo rotates his squad. Lucas Piazon retains his Capital One Cup starting berth and George Saville is the only youth player to make the bench.

Chelsea

• 01 Cech
• 04 David Luiz
• 24 Cahill
• 28 Azpilicueta
• 34 Bertrand
• 06 Romeu
• 10 Mata
• 12 Mikel
• 13 Moses
• 23 Sturridge
• 35 Piazon

Subs

• 40 Hilario, 19 Ferreira, 07 Ramires, 11 Oscar, 17 Hazard, 21 Marin, 56 Savill

TeamTalk

Roberto Di Matteo’s team talk tonight should be simple given the events on Sunday.

Even though just five players from that game are playing tonight, the anger at the result should be enough to spark a performance tonight.

 

Football is facing a new racism scandal, with Chelsea making formal allegations about the conduct of referee Mark Clattenberg during our game against Manchester United on Sunday..

These allegations are very serious and leave this referee’s career hanging in the balance. For this reason I implore Chelsea fans to be objective and separate what was an abject refereeing performance from the alleged inappropriate comments, particularly if they have a racial element.

If these allegations are true and proven then this may well be the end of the Clattenberg’s refereeing career with the men in black unlikely to be given the same opportunity of redemption as players charged with using racial language by the FA.

As others have stated as a referee the standard that referees are held to should be higher than than the players as they are supervising the game and are the inforcers of the rules.

The FA cannot risk their refereeing appointments being bigger news than the game, particularly after the controversy over the recent Kick It Out week of action that attracted the wrong kind of media attention and called into question action being taken on an important issue.

Unlike the FA I believe in nnocent until proven guilty and this should be applied to this case.

Therefore as tempting as it is to transfer anger at the result on Sunday onto the allegations against Mark Clattenburg, we should refrain.

Due to the seriousness and the fall out, we should wait for the evidence to become clear and let others judge guilt or innocent, in turn avoiding rash judgements or letting the influence of bias impact our opinion on this issue.

For now Clattenberg is just a shocking referee, is he a racist? Well that’s for somebody else to decide.

Yesterday was a very frustrating day, however sometimes in life things will not go your way.

Defeat was painful and many decisions were unjust but we must not let the anger and bitterness consume us as a set of supporters or as a club.

We may have been defeated for the first time in the league, the players must use the anger and taste of defeat as a driver to move on and ensure that defeat does not become a normal feeling.

Looking at the positives

Bar a lax opening 15 minutes we bossed the game until we went down to 10 men, we looked full of energy going forward and showed for the second week in a row real heart when faced with adversity.

If we play as we did against Manchester United in all our other games this season we will be in with a real shout for the League.

November has in the last few seasons been our undoing and we are better than a brief flirt with success, this year we must kick on and ensure we are still in the race coming into the New Year.

Next up is United at home in the cup, what better way to cleanse the soul than a convincing victory.

In the run up to our game against Manchester United we have spoken to a United blogger to see how they feel going into tomorrow’s game.

First of all, can you introduce yourself to the readers.

My name is Sam Peoples. I’m a lifelong United fan and I own and run The Peoples Person, a blog that started off very small but has now blossomed into my full time hobby.

 United have started this season off in choppy form – what has happened?

Defensive instability has marred the start of our season. We have relied on the attacking prowess of our front three to get us out of a lot of messes.

We have conceded the first goal in 8 out of last 12 games but have had a phenomenal record of coming from behind to win already this season, in a typically United fashion.

The injury to Nemanja Vidic has rocked us again this season. Much like a City without Kompany or a Chelsea without a Terry, we are missing that captains presence. Not having him at the back means we are a lot weaker, especially at set pieces, and teams have been abusing it.

United are traditionally slow out of the blocks but a lot of the time, they come strong when it matters. Do you think this season is different?

This season has shaped us as most of us expected. Without a stable defence, we aren’t able to build anything from the back and controlled build up play has always been part in parcel of our game. We have been experimenting with a new diamond formation this year that has worked wonders in some situations but against Braga, it backfired as we couldn’t find any space in the middle.

Against a Chelsea side boasting central players like Hazard, Mata, Oscar and Ramires, I expect us to revert to our traditional 4-4-2 otherwise we would risk getting overrun by you.

United have a pretty dire record against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and haven’t won there since 2004. Last years match was a thrilling 3-3 draw – do you expect a similar sort of game on Sunday?

I expect a goalfest on Sunday. United can’t keep a clean sheet for toffee right now and up against a free scoring Chelsea, that won’t change. We have made an unfortunate habit so far this season of conceding an early goal but we simply can’t let that happen against Chelsea because we would be making it really hard on ourselves. Your ferocious pace on the counter-attack would expose our pedestrian central midfield if that happened.

As for our attackers, I can’t see Chelsea keeping a clean sheet either. Hernandez announced himself to the season against Braga with a wonderful brace midweek and with Rooney and Van Persie starting to build what could be the best Premier League partnership this season, our options are fruitful. Throw an ever improving Danny Welbeck into the mix and we are spoilt for choice up front.

I think that, given his record against you, Hernandez is in line for a rare start this season alongside Rooney and Van Persie. For the first time in his United career, he managed to get no offsides against Braga and his first touch was much improved. He looks ready to fire on all cylinders and, hopefully, he starts on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.

How do you expect United to set up on Sunday and do you think United will come with an attacking purpose?

I’m a bit worried really. Scholes and Giggs were both rested against Braga midweek and I think Sir Alex will be looking towards experience in what is going to be a tough seven days for United considering we play you twice in three days and Arsenal next Saturday.

I expect us to come out in a 4-4-2 formation as our wingers will be the key to unlocking your defence, not neat football through the middle. Valencia and Young should get the nod because they add a lot to the team defensively, doubling up with Evra and Rafael.

In the middle, I want to see Carrick and Cleverley. Scholes should be brought on for the second half so he is fresh for the last 45 minutes. It probably won’t happen but as long as I don’t see Giggs playing as a central midfielder, I’ll be happy whoever Sir Alex puts out.

Finally, how do you predict the game will go on Sunday and what do you think the score is?

Both teams to score on Sunday has got to be a safe bet I’d say? I think the most likely result is a score draw really – both teams look strong in attack but weak at the back. An early goal for either side could really set the game on fire and I think it would play into Chelsea’s hands if it comes to life early on.

If we come away with a point from Sunday, I’ll be happy.