Chelsea struggled without Joao Pedro in their defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. Xabi Alonso has confirmed that the Brazilian goalscorer is ruled out of their upcoming match against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester United and Michael Carrick will take any boost they can get if it helps them win football matches. It looked like the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth would cost the head coach his job, until it was revealed he’s been given more time to turn results around.

There needs to be an improvement in performances because they’ve been abysmal since the beginning of the season, with United only managing to beat Ipswich Town and FK Sabah. On Saturday, they travel to a Chelsea side sitting fifth in the Premier League.

Some early injury news coming out of Chelsea will come as a boost for United, though Carrick’s players will still need to turn up and perform at a high level to secure maximum points at Stamford Bridge. This injury proved costly in Chelsea’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Joao Pedro ruled out of Man Utd clash

Alonso has a headache up front. It marks some contrast to a few weeks ago when pundits were talking about Chelsea having the best attack in the Premier League.

Luckily for United, Joao Pedro will miss the game on Saturday – just like he did when Chelsea looked toothless in attack without their Brazilian star last weekend. He has eight goal contributions, including five goals, in six appearances.

With Pedro sidelined for a “few weeks”, Alonso must find an alternative to lead the line for Chelsea. They take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night before facing the Reds.

“He is a key player. We will miss him,” Alonso told reporters.

“But we will have to be ready to deal with the injury and to be competitive and to try to win games with the players that we have available. We are starting tomorrow against Liverpool, a cup game. This is the situation. We are ready to fight for it and ready to prove that we can show the level.”

Danny Welbeck could start against Liverpool and earn a place in the team to face his former club in Saturday’s early kick-off. That means he has a chance to build on his already impressive tally of eight goals against United since leaving Old Trafford in 2014.

• Danny Welbeck stats for Chelsea this season
• Appearances: 8
• Goals: 3
• Minutes: 259

The former academy graduate was adored by United fans during his time at the club, and Louis van Gaal’s decision to sell him is still debated to this day. Many fans feel that Welbeck could have made a positive difference in attack for United in recent years, especially with the shortage of strikers in the squad.