Chelsea, United in battle to keep up with Man City

London, Nov. 3: Chelsea and Manchester United go head to head this weekend in a match neither club dare lose as Manchester City entertain Arsenal eyeing a chance to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s unbeaten City are smashing records with impunity and are already five points clear of Jose Mourinho’s United after nine wins in 10 games.

Elsewhere, Tottenham will look to build on their 3-1 win against Real Madrid and Liverpool will attempt to stay on the coattails of the Premier League pacesetters at West Ham.

Chelsea turned last season’s Premier League race into a procession but it’s been a different story this

time around, with three defeats already — they only lost five matches in the whole of last season.

Manager Antonio Conte criticised his side after they crashed 3-0 in Rome this week, saying they “lacked everything”, though they are still likely to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.

Chelsea are already nine points behind leaders Manchester City and defeat against United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday would leave them with an impossible-looking task.

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was lambasted for his cautious tactics in a 0-0 bore draw at Anfield last month, with critics saying he had missed a trick by failing to test Liverpool’s suspect defence.

Since then they have laboured to a couple of wins against Benfica in the Champions League and beaten Spurs 1-0 on home turf in the Premier League, as well as losing to Huddersfield.

Ex-Chelsea boss Mourinho, who held a finger to his lips and told the doubters to calm down after his side beat Tottenham Spurs last weekend, is unlikely to be persuaded to depart from his pragmatic game plan against Chelsea even though Conte’s men are coming into the match on the back of a poor defensive display against Roma.

The Premier League has a familiar look after 10 matches with the “Big Six” in the top six spots. But lurking just outside that gilded group are Burnley, level with Liverpool on 16 points.

The club’s away form has caught the eye but Sean Dyche, who takes his team to Southampton on Saturday, is refusing to get carried away.