It’s very true that the idea of facing certain players can hamper the confidence of players before they even take to the pitch, but the opposite can also be true where strikers will fancy their chances against an out of form player.
Harry Maguire has had a mixed start to the season and he really just looks like he needs a break, but Man United have a shortage of options at the back and he looks likely to start this weekend.
Timo Werner had a slow start to life at Chelsea but his confidence will be up after an impressive performance against Southampton, so he should fancy his chances of causing the United defence a few issues.
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The Metro recently picked up on some comments from former Chelsea defender Glen Johnson, and he feels Werner should be hoping that Maguire starts the game:
“If I’m Timo Werner I’d be like please play him, I really would. I think he will be an absolute nightmare for him.”
Maguire’s main issue at United has always been that he gets exposed too easily and he looks frightfully slow when he’s matched up with someone who has some pace, so Werner will always win the battle if he’s left in a 1v1 situation with Maguire.
Axel Tuanzebe produced a great performance against PSG but he’s been out of the team for so long that it might be a big ask for him to play too huge games so close together, but it would also be interesting to see him play with Maguire.
Chelsea are also poor in defence so the game does promise goals at least, so it will be interesting to see if Johnson is right about Werner getting the better of Maguire if they both start.