I am currently sitting on an airplane — WiFi on airplanes, even with hiccups, is certainly a modern marvel — flying east, towards Tampa, Florida where the latest Premier League USA Fanfest is being held. I figured, why wallow in my constant disappointment and sadness alone when I could wallow in constant disappointment and sadness with a bunch of other Chelsea fans? After all, it’s the shared experience, online or in person, that keeps us fans above all else.
And I fear we might need a bit more group
therapy this weekend. Chelsea are in absolutely horrendous form, incapable of beating any team not from a lower league. It’s now just one win in nine against top-flight opposition in all competitions, with five straight defeats. We scored seven goals against the worst team in the third division; we’ve scored zero goals in 300 minutes against everyone else, with 3-0 defeats becoming customary.
Meanwhile, our chances of finishing in the top five are evaporating faster than BlueCo’s profit margins. We’re still sixth, somehow, but four points behind Liverpool in fifth. In fact, that gap is just as big as the gap down to twelfth-place Fulham. There’s plenty of room below us for our current situation to get a lot worse.
With six games to go, we are beyond desperate for any points.
Date / Time: Saturday, April 18, 2026, 20.00 BST; 3pm EDT; 12:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Michael Oliver (on pitch); Tony Harrington (VAR)
Forecast: slight chance of rain
On TV: TNT Sports 1 (UK); Universo, Telemundo (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: discovery+ (UK); Peacock, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); JioHotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Chelsea team news: With our injury situation unchanged, the big news is that Enzo Fernández is back from the two-match suspension that was levied onto him by the club for comments made in the media that cast some serious doubt over his future at Chelsea. That still sounds incredibly harsh, though head coach Liam Rosenior has also hinted that the situation is more complex than that — whatever that may mean. In any case, Enzo’s been training with the team the whole week and is available for selection.
The other big news is that Moisés Caicedo has signed a new contract, extending his commitment to this overleveraged house of cards for another two years, to 2033. Of course, contract lengths are relatively meaningless in the modern game — players can force moves quite easily — but it’s nice to see Moi continuing to cultivate his legend-in-the-making narrative. Unfortunately, his form, like most of the rest the team’s, has not been great of late but maybe the new bump in compensation will inspire a bump in the performances as well.
Rosenior has billed this game as the ultimate test of character for this team, for whatever that’s worth.
“Obviously we’re not in a good place in terms of the results. It’s a brilliant challenge in terms of myself, in terms of my energy, what I give the team, and more about what we do together. We’ve had a lot of really strong conversations as a group. We’ve had some very, very good training sessions. I think in this moment, you find out about yourself, you find out about your group, and you actually just have to stay focused on the process, which is here, the day in, day out.
“[…] The team are together, we’re united, we know we all want to be successful together. [The players] still believe, of course we still believe. I don’t know why [anyone] would ask that question.”
-Liam Rosenior; source: Football.London
Oh, Liam.
Manchester United team news: United have had an impressive bounce under interim manager Michael Carrick, since sacking Rúben Amorim at the start of January and appointing their former player soon after. Carrick has won seven of his eleven games in charge, with most of those non-wins coming in the last four games. So perhaps the shine is wearing off a bit now. United lost to Leeds United last weekend and have just one win in four. But they still sit comfortably third and barring a massive disaster, will be playing Champions League football next season.
But Carrick does face a major headache in defense at the moment, with Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martínez both ruled out through suspension and Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt injured. That leaves just one recognized (sort of) senior center back, 19-year-old Ayden Heaven in the team, set to play his first minutes since January. Full backs Noussair Mazraoui and Luke Shaw, or midfielders Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo could also deputize, though Mainoo is a fitness doubt. Either way, one could hardly think of a better scenario to get our struggling attack firing again.
At the other end, Benjamin Šeško has turned into quite a super-sub with seven goals since January, and he’s now the team’s joint-top leading goalscorer with fellow forward Bryan Mbeumo. They both have ten goals, which is only two more than the husk that is Casemiro, which is just silly. Of course, it’s Bruno Fernandes and Bruno Fernandes alone who continues to elevate this team to whatever heights they can reach.
View from the enemy: The Busby Babe
Previously: We lost to United earlier this season at Old Trafford, 2-1, but they haven’t won at the Bridge since 2020. In fact, they have just one that win in their last twelve Premier League away games against us. Last May, a 1-0 win in this fixture was a crucial moment in our strong finish to the campaign.
