HITTING ROCK BOTTOM COULD JOLT CHELSEA INTO LIFE

Blues stars must show pride and play for the shirt

WHEN you get beaten 6-0 like Chelsea did at Manchester City, there is a feeling of total embarrassment within the group.

I lost 6-0 once in my career, with Aston Villa against Nottingham Forest, and I experienced those same feelings. In the days that followed that defeat, I didn’t want to leave the house. This Chelsea team have been rocked to the core but it might take hitting rock bottom to jolt their season back into life. Now they have to show pride in their performance.

They have to play for the shirt, and what an opportunity they have to show that they are willing to do that when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United visit tonight.

Maurizio Sarri has admitted that his players are difficult to motivate and you never know which Chelsea team are going to turn up.

Think back to their 2-0 win over City at Stamford Bridge and the Carabao Cup semi-final victory over Tottenham. This is a side who are capable of brilliant performances when they are up for it.

I make them slight favourites to win against United this evening.

It has not been an ideal week for United. Solskjaer suffered his first set-back since returning to the club and tactically, his team were taken to the cleaners by Paris Saint-Germain.

United could not cope with PSG playing with a back three. The French champions pushed their wide players high up the pitch, forcing United into retreat. When Juan Mata came off the bench, he spent most of the time at right back.

The key strength for Solskjaer’s team is the way they counter-attack in numbers with plenty of pace and no fear.

Chelsea are weak defensively but they will not have to deal with the pace of Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard, who are both injured. Instead they are likely to face a front three of Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.

United showed PSG far too much respect in their Champions League loss and they cannot afford to do the same to Chelsea tonight.

If fear starts to creep back into these players’ performances, their FA Cup dream will come to an abrupt end at Stamford Bridge.