How do Man United cope with defensive crisis at Chelsea?
Talk of the Devils: The Athletic FC's Manchester United show
The Athletic
4.6 • 771 Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Manchester United head to Stamford Bridge for a Saturday night Champions League six-pointer with Chelsea but there's a good chance it won't match up to the all-guns blazing shootout that was Real Madrid at Bayern in this season's quarter final.
It has now been confirmed, at the eleventh hour, that Harry Maguire will miss the Chelsea game having had his red card ban extended for an FA charge of abusive language. It's also unlikely that Lisandro Martinez will feature after he was sent off against Leeds, so Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven are expected to be Michael Carrick's centre half partnership. Add in uncertain form from United's attackers, and there are question marks there.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are adrift after a series of poor performances and results. Fans are showing open hostility to both the owners and the manager and they have attacking problems of their own having failed to score in four of their last five games. Surely, United can take a great stride toward Europe's top table with a win...
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic F.C. |
| 0:20.6 | This is Talker Devils, The the athletic show dedicated to Manchester United. |
| 0:24.5 | Coming up today with Lassandro Martinez and Harry Maguire, both set to miss Chelsea. |
| 0:29.5 | We asked the question, how will United cope and how will Michael Carrick set his team up at Stamford Bridge in a crucial game for Champions League qualification. |
| 0:38.7 | Everyone's here, apart from Carl, Andy Critch is back and Laurie. |
| 0:42.8 | I don't know why I said everyone's here when they're not, but there you go. |
| 0:45.6 | Let's get straight into it. |
| 0:47.0 | Harry McGuire missing this game, Laurie, you've written about this extended ban |
| 0:51.9 | that he's received on the Athletic. |
| 0:53.7 | What's the details? |
| 0:55.0 | Yeah, so it was something that has been sort of long time coming really and I think there |
| 0:59.9 | was a bit of agitation about the fact that a ruling hadn't been passed down up until yesterday |
| 1:06.1 | really, so Wednesday afternoon is when confirmation finally arrived and whilst they might have expected |
| 1:12.0 | it to be a one game band going into it until that comes down they can't necessarily plan |
| 1:17.1 | right so in terms of training sessions I think that does impact a little bit what Michael |
| 1:20.9 | Carrick can do and so yeah it's sort of three days out and then you are told you know Harry |
| 1:26.1 | McGuire will miss the game but yeah the written reasons then came out by the FA. |
| 1:30.2 | I think they might have had to sort of publish them a little bit sooner than they had intended to after we did the story, which was quite fun. |
| 1:36.9 | But it's a one game ban plus a fine. |
| 1:39.6 | And the reasons for that being that Harry McGuire swore at the fourth official, Matt Donoghue, |
| 1:45.0 | as he left the field. His argument is that he was swearing generally about the decision to send |
| 1:50.5 | him off at Bournemouth against Evan Ilson. Matt Donoghue's version was that he swore at the |
... |
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