United hope to end road Blues at the Bridge

Soccer Betting Lines

02/03/2012 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United are not accustomed to long-standing droughts at many stadiums in England, but Stamford Bridge is certainly one of the few exceptions.

The Red Devils square off against Chelsea in West London on Sunday and will be looking to banish their 10-year run at the Bridge without a Premier League win.

United last secured three points at Chelsea in April of 2002, a 3-0 win with goals coming from Paul Scholes, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Since then, the club has suffered six losses and three draws to confirm Stamford Bridge as one of United's few "bogey grounds" in recent memory.

Over the last seven seasons, the two clubs have dominated the Premier League title scene with United winning the league four times to Chelsea's three. Manchester United finds itself in yet another tight race for the championship, tied with Manchester City for first place on 54 points, while Chelsea has stumbled this season under new manager Andre Villas-Boas, falling to fourth place where it sits 12 points adrift of the leaders.

But despite some uncharacteristic performances from the Blues this season, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is still wary of the role Chelsea can play in the title race and acknowledged that his side is in for a tough encounter Sunday.

"It's not an easy game going to Stamford Bridge, we've not beaten them since 2002," Ferguson said. "The last seven years we've fought with them for league titles so you expect it to be a hard game and it will be."

It's a stigma that has not just hovered around this United team in the week leading up to the clash, but in years past as well.

"We've got a terrible record at Stamford Bridge," said Wayne Rooney before last year's fixture at Chelsea, which ended with a 2-1 loss for United. "It's not been a good place for me, with United and Everton - I even broke my metatarsal there in 2006 and nearly missed the World Cup.

"You get these strange records in football and there's no way to explain them. I certainly don't know why we've found it so hard at Chelsea because our away record is very good overall."

A win for United on Sunday could be enough to bring the Red Devils into sole possession of first place in the league if City doesn't take care of business against its own London foe on Saturday.

The Citizens, coming off a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of Everton on Tuesday, will rebound with a home tilt against Fulham, which is fresh off of a 1-1 draw with West Bromwich.

In North London on Saturday, Arsenal will welcome Blackburn to the Emirates with Rovers looking to climb out of the relegation zone. The Gunners have still not claimed a Premier League win in 2012, suffering losses to Fulham, Swansea City, and Manchester United and playing to a scoreless draw with Bolton in their most recent outing.

Rounding out Saturday's Premier League action, Norwich City hosts Bolton at Carrow Road, QPR welcomes Wolverhampton to Loftus Road, Stoke City faces Sunderland at the Britannia, West Bromwich and Swansea City meet at the Hawthorns, and Everton heads to the DW Stadium to face last-place Wigan.

Leading up to the massive clash at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Newcastle welcomes Aston Villa to Sports Direct Arena. The Magpies are looking to build upon their 2-0 win over Blackburn in their last outing, while the Villans hope to extend their unbeaten run in Premier League play to four games.

The lone EPL fixture on Monday pits two top-six teams against one another as sixth-place Liverpool welcomes third-place Tottenham to Anfield.