Chelsea take on Manchester United in the Premier League this Saturday with the future of head coach Michael Carrick decided

Michael Carrick will be in charge for Manchester United's Premier League clash against Chelsea, football.london's sister-title the Manchester Evening News understands. Following back-to-back heavy defeats, Carrick's job was firmly in the balance but club chiefs have decided to let him try and turn things around.

United have won just two games this season, against Ipswich Town and Azerbaijan side Sabah, which has left them near the bottom of both the Premier League and Champions League table.

Sunday's 3-0 loss to Bournemouth looked to be the final straw with it largely expected Carrick would be sacked. However, following discussions between United chiefs and the Glazer family, it has been decided that he will stay on.

The poor standard of individual performances from the players has seemingly been factored into the decision with Carrick not the only one to blame for such a poor run of form.

The first task for Carrick on his redemption journey takes place at Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunchtime, a venue where he won last season during an interim spell in charge.

That win was up against Liam Rosenior with Carrick now set to go up against Xabi Alonso, who has made a strong start to the season.

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The Blues were dealt a blow last weekend, however, courtesy of a 2-0 defeat to London rivals Tottenham. Second-half strikes from Mathys Tel and a disastrous own goal from stand-in goalkeeper Mike Penders settled the contest in the visitors' favour.

Alonso's next focus is not on the visit of United and Carrick just yet as they head to Anfield for a Carabao Cup fourth round match against Liverpool on Wednesday.

Cole Palmer is unavailable for the game after being sent off against Spurs while Emiliano Martinez, Reece James and Jamie Gittens will definitely miss the cup tie through injury. Joao Pedro was a major doubt but Alonso has confirmed he will be out for a period.

The Chelsea boss said on Tuesday: "He has an injury on his thigh. He will be a few weeks out. Let's see how many. We don't want to predict on that."

While United have a full block of training before taking on Chelsea, Alonso will likely have just one full session to prepare his players with Thursday to be used as a recovery day following their trip to Merseyside.

Injury problems and a sub-par performance against Spurs leaves Alonso with a number of decisions to make this week but he has already confirmed one.

He said: "It’s part of the business; you need to deal with mistakes, and we keep confidence in Mike, and he will be in goal against Liverpool. We win, and we lose together, and it’s part of the job to deal with mistakes, myself as well as everyone.

"We support Mike and Geo [Quenda] as well, the guys starting their first [Premier League] games. He will want to prove he can do better, and we also have to show that."