Joe Cole has backed Chelsea to come back away from Outdated Trafford with a 1-0 victory and believes his former membership are ‘two years forward’ of the place Manchester United discover themselves on their cycle.
The Pink Devils are languishing down in 14th place after a dismal begin to the Premier League season and the aspect’s depressing run of outcomes finally value Erik ten Hag his job on Monday.
United chiefs acted rapidly to safe Ten Hag’s substitute, with Ruben Amorim formally appointed this afternoon, although the Portuguese will stay in command of Sporting till the following worldwide break.
This implies United will as soon as once more by led by Ruud van Nistelrooy, who started his stint as interim boss with an entertaining Carabao Cup last-16 win over Leicester on Wednesday night time.
Chelsea, by comparability, have loved a promising begin to the 2024/25 marketing campaign underneath new supervisor Enzo Maresca and will transfer into the highest 4 ought to outcomes go their means this weekend.
And whereas Sunday’s guests have gained simply two of their final 5 matches in all competitions, ex-Chelsea and England winger Cole is assured Maresca’s males will safe most factors on the Theatre of Desires.
‘I believe Chelsea will go to Outdated Trafford and win,’ Cole instructed Paddy Energy.
‘Put apart the League Cup sport in opposition to Newcastle, and Chelsea’s kind has been nice. They’re in all probability about two years forward of the place Manchester United are proper now.
‘They’ve numerous younger gamers and I believe they’ll go there and benefit from the problem.
‘Manchester United will flip up however Chelsea will win the sport. It’ll be tight as a result of Chelsea haven’t gained at Outdated Trafford since 2013, however I fancy a 1-0 Chelsea win.’
Reece James responded to Maresca’s current criticism with a formidable all-round show in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat of Newcastle final day trip within the English high flight.
Given James’ historical past of damage issues, Cole hopes the membership captain is eased again into the fold with a level of warning relating to his workload.
‘It’s massively vital for Chelsea that Reece James stays match, nevertheless it’s additionally massively vital for Reece himself,’ he added.
‘I maintain out hope for him and his physique as a result of they’ve been very good with Wesley Fofana, giving him strict guidelines of solely taking part in one sport per week. I think about Reece could be provided that form of routine.
‘He’s a Ferrari and you’ll solely take him out for a spin as soon as every week. He’s an actual athlete however the physique is fragile so for him and the longer he can maintain taking part in a constant variety of video games, his physique will get stronger, and he’ll get extra confidence.
‘Then perhaps in a yr, or 18 months, they will throw an additional mid-week sport in there. He appears nice when he performs and if Chelsea can do with Reece what they’ve finished with Fofana, he’ll be a world-class defender.
‘He needs to be a daily starter within the Premier League and if he can get again to the extent he was taking part in at earlier than his damage, he walks into the crew. They simply must be good with him.’
There was some hypothesis that Amorim might search to deliver Sporting sensation Viktor Gyokeres with him from Lisbon to Manchester this January.
However Cole believes United’s hierarchy could also be reluctant to relinquish an excessive amount of energy to Amorim within the switch market after their expertise along with his predecessor Ten Hag.
Extra Trending
Learn Extra Tales
‘You need to take each participant as a person and there needs to be some construction round recruitment at Manchester United. There needs to be a system with their new sporting administrators with Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox,’ he continued.
‘Erik ten Hag introduced in gamers that he knew and that didn’t work. The times of a supervisor bringing in two or three of his personal gamers as a result of he is aware of them, are over. I don’t assume that may occur at Manchester United.
‘Viktor Gyokeres will probably be on Manchester United’s hitlist however on no account will a participant be inexperienced lit simply because the supervisor is aware of him. They’ve had such a nasty expertise with Ten Hag and the gamers he introduced in that I don’t assume time will look too kindly on these gamers.
‘Anybody scoring targets in Europe will come to the eye of Premier League golf equipment and Gyokeres is an actual expertise.’
For extra tales like this, verify our sport web page.
Observe Metro Sport for the most recent information on
Fb, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE : Paul Merson warns Arsenal ‘will get discovered quickly’ due to Mikel Arteta tactic
MORE : Alan Shearer’s Premier League predictions together with Manchester United vs Chelsea
MORE : Manchester United legend Gary Neville slams Vinicius Jr for ‘classless’ response to Rodri successful Ballon d’Or
This web site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privateness Coverage and Phrases of Service apply.