Chelsea aims to derail Man United express

LONDON - Chelsea is determined to bring Manchester United's electrifying start to the season to a shuddering halt on Sunday as the Premier League rivals collide in a heavyweight clash at Old Trafford.

The Londoners travel to Manchester as underdogs, having already suffered three crucial defeats against Sir Alex Ferguson's men this year, losing in the league and Champions League at the tail-end of last season.

As if their poor recent record wasn't daunting enough, Chelsea is also facing a United side which has started the season in dazzling form, racking up four consecutive wins and notching an unprecedented 18 goals.

Chelsea knows only too well however that early season appearances can be misleading, pointing to the club's blistering start last year, when it notched 17 goals in four wins before enduring a slump which scuppered its challenge.

"United started very well this season but, if you remember, we started last season the same," Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic said.

"They've improved as a group but we have our aim, we have our idea and we will try to use this on the pitch.

"It's going to be the hardest game for us until now and we have to show more than 100 percent of our power."

Ivanovic played in all three of the defeats suffered by Chelsea against United last season, which included two comprehensive losses in Manchester.

However the Serbian centerhalf insists Chelsea, which can go top if it wins on Sunday, will not take any psychological scars to Old Trafford.

"Last season was a different situation because we had to win there, and when you play a big game away and you have to win, psychologically, it's completely different," he said. "It's the first big, big test for our team, how we've improved, and we're going there trying to show our best football and to take a good result."

Ivanovic and the Chelsea back four's biggest challenge will be finding a way to shackle Wayne Rooney, the marauding England striker who heads into the game on the back of consecutive hat-tricks.

"He scored a lot of goals and we'll try to stop him," Ivanovic said.

Ferguson, meanwhile, plans to recall goalkeeper David de Gea and Ashley Young for the clash after resting both in the 1-1 draw at Benfica on Wednesday.

"David de Gea will play on Sunday. That was the understanding we had before the Benfica game and it doesn't change," Ferguson said.

Elsewhere this weekend, Manchester City will aim to keep pace with United at the top of the table as it travels to Craven Cottage to face a Fulham side still looking for its first win of the season.

Liverpool heads to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham, expected to be one of the Merseysiders main rivals for a top-four spot this season.

Reds boss Kenny Dalglish was left seething after last weekend's defeat at Stoke, claiming the club was being unduly penalized by match officials.

However, Dalglish's mood has softened after a meeting with referees' chief Mike Riley at the club's Melwood training ground this week.

"It was good to see Mike and we had an extremely informative and amicable discussion, which has given us all a better understanding of how things operate," Dalglish said. "It's our job to best represent the club and protect its interests, but we have the utmost respect for the job referees do and have never wanted or asked for any form of preferential treatment, simply a level playing field for everyone.

"We will continue to conduct ourselves in a dignified and respectful manner at all times. From our perspective, it was certainly worthwhile sitting down together and maybe it's something that should happen more often."

Agence France-Presse

Fixtures (1400 GMT unless stated)

Saturday: Blackburn vs Arsenal (1145), Aston Villa vs Newcastle, Bolton vs Norwich, Everton vs Wigan, Swansea vs West Brom, Wolverhampton vs QPR.

Sunday: Tottenham vs Liverpool (1230), Fulham vs Man City, Sunderland vs Stoke, Man Utd vs Chelsea (1500).