Man United defence boosted by Bailly’s excellent return

Chelsea 0-2 Manchester United

• Goals: Anthony Martial (£7.9m), Harry Maguire (£5.2m)
• Assists: Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£5.3m), Bruno Fernandes (£8.0m)
• Bonus Points: Maguire x3, Wan-Bissaka x2, Luke Shaw x1 (£5.4m)

Manchester United defenders have put themselves back on the Fantasy Premier League radar after a 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday night.

The clean sheet they secured was their fourth since Gameweek 20, with only Liverpool (seven) collecting more between then and Gameweek 26. Watford, Sheffield United, Bournemouth and West Ham four of the final six opponents scheduled to come to Old Trafford before the end of the season, which, combined with recent results, could be enough to consider some investment at the back.

Not only does the Red Devils’ backline have some defensive form at this point, but they were boosted by a surprise return for Eric Bailly (£4.9m) on Monday night who arguably put in a man of the match performance.

The Ivory Coast international was drafted into a three-man defence in the place of an ill Victor Lindelöf (£5.3m) to play alongside Harry Maguire (£5.2m) and Luke Shaw (£5.4m). Bailly took a little while to settle back into the side, making his first start of the season, but after finding his feet, the centre-back produced some truly inspiring blocks to keep Chelsea out, especially in the second half. If Bailly can hold onto this place, Manchester United should prove much harder to score against in the coming months.

“Victor (Lindelöf) is ill. He couldn’t shake off the flu so there was no point taking a chance with him. Eric (Bailly) is ready, he’s been knocking on my door a few times, asking when he could get his game. He’s played a few games behind closed doors. He’s been working hard, he’s had two months of being fit. Of course, he’s not played in the Premier League so he’s got to step up, he’s got to be sharp, but I think that’s the case for everybody. It’s the first game after a break, you might be still in break mode, so we’ve got to start quick and Eric is no different to anybody else.” – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

However, it must be said that the Red Devils had to ride their luck a little bit at times. Chelsea nearly doubled the visitors’ shot count and did put the ball in the back of the net on two occasions – with Video Assistant Referee (VAR) reviews chalking both off. The first was more controversial than the second as Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.8m), under pressure from Fred (£5.3m), was penalised for a push in the back on Brandon Williams (£4.1m) as Kurt Zouma (£4.7m) converted Willian‘s (£7.1m) corner. Later in the game substitute Olivier Giroud (£6.6m) was correctly adjudged to be offside when he headed in a Mason Mount (£6.1m) cross.

The other element of fortunate which favoured Manchester United was a first-half red card review on Maguire. Tumbling to the ground inside the Chelsea managerial dugout, he raised a boot into a rather sensitive location of Michy Batshuayi‘s (£6.6m) lower abdomen/upper groin (you get the picture). There were plenty of similarities to the incident that saw Son Heung-min (£10.0m) sent off for violent conduct against Antonio Rüdiger (£6.0m) back in Gameweek 18 and yet Maguire remained on the field after a VAR review. Had the centre-back been dismissed it might have been harder for his colleagues to close out a clean sheet.

Manchester United were also helped by a lack of quality and accuracy from Chelsea. Despite shooting more often than the Red Devils, they found the target just once all night long, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men registering three accurate efforts.

Among those to have a pop at David de Gea‘s (£5.4m) goal were Reece James (£5.0m), who fizzed an effort just wide of the post early on, Willian, who curled high and wide, Batshuayi, who stabbed a sitter past the upright and Mount, who struck it with a second-half free-kick.

By contrast, Manchester United were more clinical, which allowed Anthony Martial (£7.9m) to punish his sellers with a Gameweek 26 goal. Over 150,000 Fantasy manager parted company with the Frenchman following Gameweek 25 but his first-half strike was his third goal in the last five away matches. The Red Devils’ relatively appealing upcoming fixtures should certainly keep Martial on our radar, especially with Bruno Fernandes (£8.0m) starting to find his feet already.

The Portuguese midfielder was deployed in his favoured number 10 role at Stamford Bridge, with Solskjaer using a 3-4-1-2 system, and had a much bigger say on proceedings than in his Premier League debut against Wolves. Fernandes linked well with Martial in the first half and went close to getting a first Manchester United goal just after the hour mark, striking Willy Caballero‘s (£4.8m) near post with a dipping free-kick from the left. Fernandes did manage to open his FPL account eventually as it was his corner that was nodded into the net by Maguire.

Also impressing was Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£5.3m), whose wing-back role allowed him slightly greater freedom to join in attacks. He showed tremendous skill to find the space to cross for Martial in the first half, getting behind Azpilicueta and holding off pressure from Willian. Despite a late yellow card, Wan-Bissaka claimed two bonus points from the win at Chelsea, taking his season total to 11, Marcus Rashford (£8.9m) the only Manchester United player with more so far (26).

Odion Ighalo (£6.5m) had the chance to make it a debut to remember as he featured as a late substitute. Coming on in the 91st minute for Martial, the former Watford man was poked through on goal by Fred (£5.3m) but saw his close-range shot parried away by Caballero.

Finally, a word on the Chelsea injury situation, which continues to worsen. Tammy Abraham (£7.7m) missed the game as he has further issues with the problem sustained against Arsenal in Gameweek 24 while Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.3m) was added to the inactive list before kick-off with Lampard revealing a hamstring injury picked up in training.

“Tammy Abraham is the same injury that has frustratingly come from Arsenal, played against Leicester, and now out. We will see how that develops for the games ahead.” – Frank Lampard

“Callum (Hudson-Odoi) pulled up with a hamstring a couple of days ago in training which we have been assessing. He’s out as well, hopefully not for too long.” – Frank Lampard

Then, things went from bad to worse for Chelsea as N’Golo Kanté (£5.0m) was forced off with a thigh injury in the first half and centre-back Andreas Christensen (£4.9m) suffered a knock and had to be replaced by Zouma at the interval.

“It’s an adductor injury (for Kanté). It doesn’t look good, but he will have a scan.” – Frank Lampard

Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Caballero; Azpilicueta, Rüdiger, Christensen (Zouma 46′), R James; Kovačić, Jorginho, Kanté (Mount 12′); Willian, Batshuayi (Giroud 68′), Pedro.

Manchester United XI (3-4-1-2): De Gea; Shaw, Maguire, Bailly; Williams, Matić, Fred, Wan-Bissaka; B Fernandes (Dalot 90+2′); Martial (Ighalo 90+1′), D James (A Pereira 80′).

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