The penultimate weekend of 2024/25 Premier League action begins on Friday night, with Chelsea welcoming Manchester United to Stamford Bridge.
Both sides come into this game off the back of defeats, but the Blues are still just about on course to qualify for next season’s Champions League – while United must be desperate for their utterly miserable domestic campaign to finish, as they look forward to the Europa League final.
To preview the action in West London, here’s our pick of the facts and stats…
Chelsea v Manchester United (Friday, 8:15pm BST)
Chelsea’s Champions League qualification chances hang in the balance, with the Blues only just holding onto fifth place after last weekend’s action.
Enzo Maresca’s side saw their five-game winning streak in all competitions come to an end as they lost 2-0 at Newcastle, leaving them level on points with Aston Villa but ahead in the table thanks to their superior goal difference (19 to Villa’s seven).
Nottingham Forest blew the opportunity to leapfrog Chelsea into the top five as they could only draw at home to Leicester, but they remain a single point behind – and the two sides meet at the City Ground on the final day.
The Blues will want to put themselves in a strong position ahead of that potentially decisive clash, then, and they’ll be banking on a combination of their strong home form and Manchester United’s rotten current Premier League run.
They will, however, be without sole fit senior centre-forward Nicolas Jackson, who is suspended for the rest of the season after being sent off for violent conduct against Newcastle.
Chelsea have won 10 of their 13 home games in all competitions in 2025, losing only once – to Legia Warsaw, who they ultimately beat on aggregate in the Conference League quarter-finals – while United have just gone seven league matches without a win for the first time since 1992.
Following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham, Ruben Amorim’s men can finish the season no higher than 13th, equalling the club’s worst top-flight placing since 1990 – which was also the last time they went more than seven league outings without victory.
There’s still every chance that United could wind up in 17th, one place above the drop zone; that would mark their worst finish in 51 years – since they were relegated from the old First Division under Tommy Docherty.
Victory over Tottenham in next week’s Europa League final – and the associated prize of Champions League qualification – would only go some way to mitigating the ignominy of what has been comfortably United’s worst-ever Premier League campaign.
The Red Devils have lost 17 league games this term, three more than in their final three seasons under Sir Alex Ferguson combined.
Understandably, the Europa League final will be the priority, but Amorim might want to think carefully about how much he wishes to rotate for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
United head to West London seeking to beat Chelsea on the road for the first time since a 2-0 triumph in February 2020.
