Manchester United vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League result and final score as United seal Champions League place

3 mins: United make a fast start but Chelsea make a break as Lindelof slips. Havertz had the chance to play in Gallagher, but turned it down, before Chukwuemeka curls over.

1 min: United get us underway, as some anti-Glazer chants ring out from the Stretford End.

Here come the teams! Kick-off at Old Trafford is next.

Can Frank Lampard’s side spoil United’s night?

Erik ten Hag expects Marcus Rashford to be ready to face Chelsea on Thursday night but admitted he is not sure whether Manchester United’s top scorer is fully fit.

Rashford is on the bench tonight after he missed United’s last two fixtures, first with a leg injury and then through illness.

Asked if the 29-goal forward was ready to play, Ten Hag said: “It looks like (it). Yesterday, he returned to training, he looks quite fit but we have to see today what is the outcome of the training, how did we recover and then we will make our choices.”

Chelsea must move beyond football’s tendency to be reactionary if the club hope to create a long-term vision for their future, according to Frank Lampard.

Co-owner Todd Boehly has sacked two managers this season in what has been the team’s poorest campaign of the Premier League era, with a record low number of points won and a first bottom-half finish since 1996 now certain.

They are one of 11 top-flight clubs to have changed manager at least once this season, with themselves, Leeds and relegated Southampton having dispensed with two, as the average tenure for a Premier League coach has shrunk to just over 18 months.

Chelsea’s previously indifferent form has plummeted since Graham Potter was removed on April 2, with one win in 10 games in all competitions. The team has failed to score in six of those matches following Potter’s sacking.

Lampard takes his team to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday looking for only his second win in his 10th game since taking charge, having lost seven of the previous nine.

With Mauricio Pochettino expected to be confirmed imminently as the manager for next season, the outgoing interim coach suggested a resistance to modern trends must prevail if Chelsea are to challenge once more.

Frank Lampard said Mason Mount would sign a new contract at Chelsea “in an ideal world” but accepted the situation may not be so straightforward for the England midfielder.

“It’s a hard one for me to comment on because I’m not inside Mason’s head and from the club’s point of view my role is clearly what it is,” said Lampard, who takes his side to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday.

“In the practical sense it’s completely between both sides on that front. I’m not surprised because this is football. Does everyone know that I really like Mason Mount as a lad and as a football player? Yes, sure, of course they do.

“I wish him the best personally and sitting here with my Chelsea top on now, I’ve seen what Mason has delivered at this club. But we’ll see.”

Manchester United are confident of securing Mason Mount from Chelsea if they confirm Champions League qualification, which coincidentally could happen against the London side on Thursday night, reports Miguel Delaney.

The English midfielder is available for transfer since he has not signed a new deal with his contract up next year, and Chelsea needing to drastically trim their squad anyway.

While this is set to be a disappointment to Stamford Bridge supporters who value the club bringing through young players, it is precisely this that has proven attractive to United to go with Mount’s abilities.

At £55 million, the 24-year-old is seen as cheap for an English international of his achievement, and is considered an upgrade on what United have in that area. Managers who play a pressing style like Erik ten Hag especially value Mount for his understanding of that approach and his disciplined execution.

Chelsea have named their youngest ever Premier League team tonight, with nine players aged under 24.

They are only the third team in Premier League history to start with nine players aged under 24, according to Opta.

Erik ten Hag has insisted that spending money without a strategy is a recipe for failure as he considered Chelsea’s season and the possibility of a takeover at Manchester United.

Chelsea have committed around £600 million for 16 new signings since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club a year ago but the 2021 Champions League winners visit Old Trafford on Thursday certain to finish in the bottom half of the table.

Ten Hag has spent around £200m in his reign but United, who came sixth last season, will be guaranteed a top-four finish if they avoid defeat in either of their last two games of the season.

A biography of Manchester United’s first genuinely great manager, Sir Matt Busby, is entitled ‘A Strange Kind of Glory’. More than half a century after Busby last managed United, almost 30 years since his death, one of his successors, Erik ten Hag, is on the brink of a strange kind of success.

A point is required to make the Dutchman the latest manager to follow in Busby’s footsteps and steer United into the European Cup or Champions League. Factor in a trophy, rendering him the eighth United manager to secure major silverware, and his debut season will represent a triumph, especially after the nadir of 2021-22, of a Premier League record low of 58 points and a goal difference of zero, of a campaign that ended with six straight away defeats.

A year on, Ten Hag has rebooted and revived United, writes Richard Jolly.