Statistical guide to this weekend's football: Chelsea vs Manchester United; Reading vs Arsenal; Aston Villa vs Liverpool
WhoScored.com, who offer the largest online database for detailed football statistics, preview the top matches this weekend
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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea vs Manchester United
Chelsea keep on plodding towards the Premier League title, and after last week's wholly underwhelming - but undeniably important - 1-0 victory over QPR, they are surely only a few rounds of games away from winning the league. They next come up against the Premier League's most in-form teams - in Manchester United and Arsenal - but even though the Blues have under performed of late, it would not be a surprise to see the well-oiled Jose Mourinho machine ruthlessly picking up points in both games.
Since the 5-0 mauling of Swansea in January, Chelsea have failed to win a single Premier League match by more than one goal, and have scraped past plenty of teams along the way. Mourinho has used fewer players (22) than any other manager in the Premier League, and it is starting to show, with the onset of fatigue taking its toll on the players that have been relied upon too heavily. United, meanwhile, have used the most players in the league (32), but Louis van Gaal seems now to have settled on a regular XI, and they have clicked of late, winning 6 matches in a row.
They have not beaten Chelsea in their last 7 meetings, last victorious in October 2012, when Juan Mata was on the scoresheet for the Blues. The Spaniard will make his first return to Stamford Bridge this weekend, and on recent form - having scored 3 goals and set up another in his last 3 appearances - will pose a significant threat to his former employers.
Reading vs Arsenal
Reading, 18th in the Championship and with only 2 wins in their last 12 games, travel to Wembley for an FA Cup semi final against Arsenal, currently on a run of 8 consecutive victories, and quite comfortably the most difficult possible opponents for Reading to have at present.
The Royals are almost certainly safe from relegation and will be able to concentrate on this clash, but there is very little reason to believe they can get anything from the tie. They have scored 8 goals in their last 3 matches against Arsenal but have ended up losing each time, conceding some 16 goals in those games. In fact, Arsenal have won all 12 of their competitive meetings with Reading (including extra time), and it would be no surprise to see Arsenal score a fair few goals in a dominant win.
Aston Villa vs Liverpool
Villa have beaten Liverpool once already this season but they have been through an awful lot since then. That win was back in mid-September, a result that left Paul Lambert's side second in the table with 3 wins from 4 and behind only Chelsea. They had scored 4 goals in their first 4 games, but then took another 10 matches to hit their next 4. Since Tim Sherwood has come in, they have improved markedly going forwards, scoring 14 goals in 9 games, and they will have been buoyed by an impressive win over Tottenham last time out.
Liverpool have been far from their fluent best in recent weeks, and will need Raheem Sterling - at the centre of a contract dispute and 'hippy-crack' controversy - to be back to his best this weekend. He scored a wonderful goal against Newcastle last time out but then contrived to miss two golden chances. That was his first goal in 9 matches, but he remains Liverpool's top scorer this season, so it could be up to him to provide the firepower to take the Reds through to the final.
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings. You can follow all the scores, statistics, live player and team ratings with the new free-to-download WhoScored iOS app
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