Manchester United meet Chelsea but all eyes will be on Jose Mourinho and nemesis Antonio Conte

The Premier League has some of the best players in the world. From that, we should be able to expect much more for the money spent on season tickets and television subscriptions. Outside of the Manchester Derby, then, Sunday’s game between Manchester United and Chelsea could be the best the league has to offer.

When it comes down to it, though, we may have to look to the sidelines, rather than at the pitch, for any serious entertainment.

Manchester United demonstrated at Sevilla the varied problems they are attempting to work their way through. Jose Mourinho is currently unwilling to sacrifice the protection offered by two deep-lying midfielders.

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This is probably not because he believes this is the best way to get his central midfielder into the game, but rather the best way of asking as little as possible of his defence as possible. Any back four he might choose is currently dreadful and vulnerable due to poor form, zero ability, or playing out of position.

This jiggers what Paul Pobga can offer the side. He appears to be on the naughty step for now, called upon only because of Ander Herrera’s early injury. Otherwise, Mourinho seems happy to give prominence and praise to Scott McTominay. McTominay is fine, and his calmness in a hectic midfield means he deserves more chances, but he is clearly well behind Pogba at his best, or even at his very good. How Mourinho can Pogba can solve whatever is holding back the Frenchman from finding top form is not entirely clear, but eventually freeing him from most of his defensive duties seems key.

Until then, the focus is on the forward line to deliver the goals while often separated from the players who can provide an overload. They should be good enough to do this, and of late Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez have all missed chances that would have made the last few results look much less disappointing. Despite this, it can’t be ignored that attacking is slow and disjointed. Not as atrocious as the stuff Louis van Gaal offered, but closer to that than the best of what even David Moyes was able to provide.

So far, the natural conservatism on show from Mourinho has not been enough to protect his defence. David de Gea’s exceptional performances is what has saved them, because the defence is so starkly porous. His inability to give support or fluency at the other end of the pitch exacerbates the damage done by his clown school. Against his closest rival, there is close to no chance he will change this approach.

Circumstances for Chelsea are no more exciting. Against Barcelona. Chelsea put in one of the best, most resilient performances of their season. But that came at the expense of benching both Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata. Willian and Eden Hazard are perhaps Chelsea’s most reliable performers, and Willian displayed his eye for goal from distance yet again, but the absence of a true striker showed that Antonio Conte was happy to take what he could against Barcelona. He was not interested in controlling the game – his preference was minimising the damage done by his opponent. It worked well enough, as Chelsea remain in with a chance for the second leg.

Nevertheless, Conte is on his way out. Nobody expects him to last longer than the rest of the season, and it is a touch surprising that Roman Abramovich hasn’t called in an old mate to sit on the touchline for a few months to tide the squad over. This Chelsea group of players has one big similarity with Sunday’s opponents – they are used to their failure only punishing the managers, not the players. Players like Gary Cahill and Daley Blind have coasted without impressing consistently for years, still bringing in wages that are barely deserved. The defence is still prone to errors, though vastly superior to United’s, though their midfield is perhaps just as stodgy.

A defeat for Conte would probably rule out any chance of finishing second, falling six points behind United and four behind Liverpool should they win their match. A draw would just about keep them in the hunt. On balance, another defensive performance, like the one against Barcelona, might be the likeliest approach to adopt.

Two defensive, vulnerable sides with defective forward lines coming up against one another, with no great reason to go at one another. It does not promise to be a thrilling match. The biggest talking point is the aggro between Conte and Mourinho.

Conte has accused Mourinho of having dementia, a degenerative brain condition, a comment that no supposedly proper journalist has bothered to confront him about. Mourinho brought up Conte’s match-fixing ban, by far the greatest insult of the season this far. They hold each other in contempt, they’re little men, they are going bald. All this has been even more enjoyable than a Kevin De Bruyne highlights reel.

When United take on Chelsea on Sunday, two disheartened teams will probably take the cowardly, or sensible route. For us, that’s no fun, unless we decide to get our kicks from watching a magnificently petty row take place between Conte and Mourinho. So that’s what we’ll do.