DALEY BLIND believes Chelsea will be a force again in the Premier League in 2016.
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| Daley Blind is not underestimating Chelsea |
Manchester United face the struggling champions at Old Trafford, but both sides are struggling this season, managing only one win between them in each of their last five games.
But Blind, one of United's few players to have avoided criticism this season, knows that expecting to cruise past Guus Hiddink's 15th-placed side would be a serious error.
“It would be foolish to underestimate them," Blind told MUTV. "I think they have a lot of quality players and they are still the team that won the title last season so you cannot underestimate them. We have to be sharp because they have a lot of players who can make the difference.
“It’s still a big game, no matter where they are in the league. Of course there is more attention when both teams are at the top of the table but it’s still a big game. It is going to be a great occasion.”
Irrespective of the result, neither side will end the year where they want, with Chelsea floundering at the wrong end of the Premier League table and United having crashed out of the Champions League.
But Louis van Gaal's side are still within striking distance of the top of the Premier League and Blind, who won four Eredivisie titles before leaving Ajax in 2014, knows there is still a long way to go for both the Red Devils and Chelsea.
“At Ajax, in almost every year we were champions, we were second, third or fourth before Christmas and then we started to come back, winning every game and became champions,” Blind added.
“I was champion of Holland four times in a row and teams really wanted to win against us. You can see it in the Premier League with Chelsea and a club like United is the same, everyone wants to beat us."
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