LIVE: Chelsea vs Manchester United – Premier League

Don’t forget that you can get involved in our live coverage of the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United via our live polls on X, including voting on what you think the outcome will be:

Sixth-placed Chelsea host third-placed Manchester United in the English Premier League at Stamford Bridge. Who will win? Vote below 👇

⚽ LIVE updates: https://t.co/lInOSpG7EM

— AJE Sport (@AJE_Sport) April 18, 2026

After suffering a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester City on April 12, there are two notable changes for today’s lineup.

Andrey Santos misses out for Enzo Fernandes, who was dropped recently for disciplinary reasons.

On the front line, Liam Delap replaces Joao Pedro.

🔴🥊 In the red corner at Stamford Bridge...

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 18, 2026

Tonight's Chelsea. 🔵📋#CFC | #CHEMUN pic.twitter.com/aqCzLZ1QyC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 18, 2026

United’s first-choice centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire are both suspended for the match.

Maguire was set to return from a one-game ban, but has had his suspension extended by an additional game for improper conduct following his sending off against Bournemouth last month.

Fellow centre-back Matthijs de Ligt is still sidelined by a back injury, while Kobbie Mainoo missed the defeat by Leeds with a knock and remains a doubt.

Predicted Manchester United starting lineup

Lammens; Dalot, Yoro, Heaven, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Diallo, Fernandes, Cunha; Mbeumo

HALF-TIME: @SpursOfficial 1-1 @OfficialBHAFC

Kaoru Mitoma's stunning volley cancels out Pedro Porro's header in a busy end to the first half pic.twitter.com/NNfeBJXi9W

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 18, 2026

Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior says midfielder Enzo ‌Fernandez has returned to full training and is available for ⁠selection for the visit of Manchester United after being dropped for disciplinary reasons.

The 25-year-old Argentina ⁠World Cup winner was omitted from the squad for the 7-0 win over League One Port Vale in the FA Cup quarterfinals, and ⁠last week’s 3-0 Premier League defeat by second-placed Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

Fernandez, who had been wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of the injured Reece James, had previously said he would assess his future after the World Cup ‌and expressed a desire to live in Madrid, comments for which he later apologised.

“Enzo has been with the group and has been training very, very well,” Rosenior told reporters on Thursday. “So, it’s business as usual in terms of selection for the game.

“In terms of his training, his application to training, Enzo has been fantastic as well.”

Rosenior also provided updates ⁠on defender Trevoh Chalobah, who has not played since ⁠the second leg of Chelsea’s Champions League defeat by Paris Saint-Germain, and on James, who has been sidelined since the loss to Newcastle United also in March.

“Trevoh trained today but ⁠not quite fully; it was a modified training,” Rosenior said. “We’ll make a decision on him, but he’s very, ⁠very close. Reece is a little bit further ⁠away.”

Predicted Chelsea starting lineup

Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Caicedo, Santos; Palmer, Fernandez, Neto; Pedro

Leeds United have beaten Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0 in one of the early Premier League kickoffs on Saturday.

All eyes in the relegation scrap now turn to Tottenham’s match against Brighton:

Leeds go nine points clear - over to you, @SpursOfficial...

Follow a huge match at the bottom of the table as @OfficialBHAFC head to north London

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 18, 2026

You can get involved in our live coverage of the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United via our live polls on X, including voting on what you think the outcome will be:

Sixth-placed Chelsea host third-placed Manchester United in the English Premier League at Stamford Bridge. Who will win? Vote below 👇

⚽ LIVE updates: https://t.co/lInOSpG7EM

— AJE Sport (@AJE_Sport) April 18, 2026

Third-placed United will arrive at Stamford Bridge with sixth-placed Chelsea seven points behind them.

Fifth-placed Liverpool are four points in front of the Blues, while Aston Villa are fourth, level on points with United but seven down on the Red Devils on goal difference.

With Villa and Liverpool not playing until Sunday – Sunderland at home and Everton away, respectively – a Chelsea win would close the gap between third and sixth to just four points for Saturday at least.

Four clubs, including Sunderland and Everton, sit just two points behind Chelsea. A certain run of results across the weekend means just six points could separate third from tenth by the close of this round of matches.

If fans of a close race were to be particularly greedy, wins for Bournemouth and Fulham – 11th and 12th, respectively – as well this weekend could mean the gap from third to 12th would only be eight points with five games to play.

As the former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said: “It is squeaky bum time”.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended high ‌ticket prices for this year’s World Cup in North America by saying ⁠that ⁠the event, which captivates the globe, is the organisation’s only source of income every four years.

Speaking at Semafor’s annual world economy summit in New ⁠York on Friday, Infantino reiterated that FIFA is a nonprofit organisation that has 211 nations as members.

“What many people don’t know, because, of course, we generate billions in a World ⁠Cup – people don’t know FIFA is a nonprofit organisation, which means all the revenue we generate, we invest them in the organisation of the game, in 211 countries all over the world,” Infantino said on stage during a Q&A session. “Three-quarters of [those countries] ‌probably would not be able to have organised football without the grants we could give them. So we always try to find the right balance.”

A check of the secondary-market ticket site StubHub on Friday showed that the most inexpensive ticket for the United States’ World Cup opener on June 12 against Paraguay was listed at $1,359, while tickets in the lower bowl of the Los Angeles venue were priced ⁠as high as $14,000 per seat.

For the World Cup final ⁠in the New York area on July 19, a single ticket in the upper deck was priced at $8,860 and as much as $25,000 in the lower bowl.

Marie-Louise Eta is making history as the first female head coach of a men’s team in Europe’s top five leagues.

Al Jazeera’s Samantha Johnson takes a look in our latest edition of Game Theory:

Hello, welcome and thanks for joining our live coverage of Chelsea against Manchester United in the Premier League.

The race for the five qualification spots for next season’s UEFA Champions League is red hot in the English top flight, and a win for Chelsea in this match could blow things wide open for the top half of the table.

The Blues, in sixth, will have to reverse a dreadful run of form to do so against a United side in third spot.

I’m Kevin Hand, and I’ll bring you the live buildup and photo coverage of the day, plus the news, analysis and opinion surrounding the game.

Rohan Sharma will bring you the team news as it lands and our comprehensive text commentary stream of the match.

In the meantime, click here for our full match preview.