Ex Arsenal star explains why Conte should drop superstar midfielder against Manchester United

Former Arsenal star Ray Parlour has said Chelsea manager Antonio Conte should consider dropping midfielder Cesc Fabregas for Sunday’s crunch Premier League tie against Manchester United.

Crunch tie

With Pep’s Manchester City running away with the title, the race for second place has become a lot more interesting recently as the United have dropped points away at Spurs and Newcastle to allow Liverpool to reduce the gap on them to only two points.

One point further away is Chelsea after they won against West Brom last week – following consecutive losses at the hands of AFC Bournemouth and Watford – thus making the encounter at Old Trafford a crucial one for both sides in an attempt to secure an automatic UEFA Champions League place.

Parlour worry

Several major battles could decide the result of the match for either club, but Ray Parlour feels whichever manager line up the right balance in the middle of the park will carry the day and has revealed a concern regarding a former colleague of his.

Cesc Fabregas played almost the entire minutes of Chelsea’s 1-1 draw against FC Barcelona in the first-leg round of 16 Champions League encounter clash on Tuesday and did perform pretty well alongside France international N’Golo Kante to reduce the visitors to minimal goalscoring chances.