Manchester United’s lead over Chelsea is down to six points, following the Blues’ 1-0 win at Manchester City in their Premier League makeup game, and both face the prospect of playing league games on Saturday and FA Cup replays on Monday.
Manchester United hosts northwest England rival Bolton Wanderers on Saturday (TV: Setanta Sports USA, live, 8:40 am ET) and Middlesbrough on Monday (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, delay, 6 pm ET). Chelsea hosts lowly Sheffield United in EPL action (TV: Setanta Sports USA, live, 10:45 am ET) but then faces a difficult test against London rival Tottenham in their quarterfinal replay two days later (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, live, 4 pm ET).
With Henrik Larsson back at his Swedish club Helsingborg and Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both unavailable, Alan Smith could get a rare start alongside Wayne Rooney in the United attack. Chelsea may rest as many players as it can for the Sheffield United game so they will be fresh against Spurs. Among those players might be captain John Terry, who returned to action against Man. City after being out since being knocked unconscious in the League Cup final against Arsenal on Feb. 25.