Chelsea v Manchester United LIVE: Premier League team news and line-ups as Bruno Fernandes starts and Michael Carrick fights for future

Michael Carrick needs a win today and he’s made some tweaks to the Man Utd team in order to help him secure one.

Ayden Heaven drops out of the defence in favour of Lisandro Martinez.

In midfield Matheus Cunha replaces Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes is recalled at the expense of Youri Tielemans.

Xabi Alonso makes four changes to the Chelsea line-up that lost to Tottenham in the last Premier League outing.

Maxence Lacroix, Jordan Henderson, Jorrel Hato and Geovany Quenda drop out of the team.

In their place come Wesley Fofana, Marco Palestra, Romeo Lavia and Estevao.

Man Utd XI: Lammens; Yoro, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot; Santos, Baleba; Amad, Fernandes, Cunha; Mbeumo

Chelsea XI: Penders; Acheampong, Fofana, Colwill; Neto, Caicedo, Lavia, Palestra; Estevao, Palmer, Rogers

With just over an hour to go until kick, the official line-ups will be dropping shortly.

Chelsea have a few absentees but should be boosted by the return of Cole Palmer.

We’ll have to wait and see if Michael Carrick recalls Bruno Fernandes to the line-up.

Team news should drop in a few minutes’ time…

Despite fair criticism of Michael Carrick as a coach, he has been left in a more challenging situation than any of his modern predecessors.

And that’s inevitably left him facing a familiar crisis that submerged all of them, too.

David Moyes had it almost immediately. Louis van Gaal had it in the winter of 2015. Jose Mourinho endured it from early 2018, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in mid-2021. Erik ten Hag had it from the start of the 2023-24 season and Carrick from the start of this one.

None ever fully recovered.

That is when a manager looks to have just “lost” a team, when the hold over them is “gone”.

And that’s when its centre can’t hold, and we see collapses like those against Como and Bournemouth.

As numerous sources suggest, the connection that was there last season has gone. It’s as if he just can’t get a reaction out of the squad any more – just like many of his predecessors eventually found.

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“We always do what we think is going to get the best out of the team. Whether that’s certain players that you speak to at certain points, that’s normal.

“That’s why if you ask for leaders in the dressing room and you want opinions on certain things, then there’s going to be times when you ask that, that’s fine. Absolutely no problem, doesn’t mean that we always agree with that, but absolutely no problem with that. And then we head off in the same direction.”

Michael Carrick has insisted that Manchester United’s players and hierarchy are speaking the hard truth to each other in blunt discussions about their troubled season.

Carrick has survived as manager after crisis talks in which chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Jason Wilcox decided to give him the chance to reverse their slide.

And he held clear-the-air talks with Bruno Fernandes after dropping his captain following his criticisms of United’s tactics in last week’s 4-1 defeat to Como.

Carrick has also had meetings with his underachieving squad, who are only 16th in the Premier League and 20th in the Champions League after going eight games without a win, as he revealed they have been honest, even when that is not pleasant.

“It’s pretty clear,” he said. “It’s not always rosy and nice conversations between anyone, whether that’s between me and the players, whether that’s between me, Jason or Omar or the owners. It’s the truth, it’s the hard truth at times and it’s what we need to move forward. Whatever we need to move forward, we’ll do.”