By Matt Barlow
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Poised first and second in the Barclays Premier League, the winners of 10 of 13 titles since the turn of the century prepare to meet at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The world's 'most valuable' football club travel to the home of the European champions, the first of the game's new mega-rich, bankrolled by Russian billions.
Chelsea's collision with Manchester United is a mouth-watering prospect with repercussions on the destiny of this particular title. But are these two clubs operating in the same dimension?
All's fair: Manchester United and Chelsea do battle in the Premier League
Against the tide: Sir Alex Ferguson
Their transfer habits bear many differences. Both clubs pay big wages to attract top players, as summer raids for Eden Hazard and Robin van Persie proved, but their net-spending trends have become very different and this is what the financial experts say matter most.
Chelsea's net spend on transfers over the last five years has been 228.7million, compared with Manchester United's 60.95m. Manchester City's recent figures soar even higher and their wealth is limitless.
United were valued at 1.43billion by Forbes magazine this year, making them the most valuable club in world sport, not only football.
Yet having finished last season without a trophy, fans are concerned about the direction of the club under the ownership of the Glazers and wondering how long Sir Alex Ferguson can defy gravity and compete for silverware while watching pennies.
Only four points separate the teams after eight league games but Chelsea have outspent United in every season since the teams met in the 2009 Champions League final.
The 2009-10 figures are distorted by the 80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo but the trend has been clear since Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich began his second major team-building project.
In May, they won their first European Cup and drove on with a summer of heavy spending, in net terms almost double the size of United's.
Don't come cheap: Eden Hazard and Robin van Persie cost a combined 56m
Last year, Chelsea's net-spend was around 50 per cent more than United's. In 2010-11, when the Blues smashed the British transfer record for Fernando Torres, it was more than 70m higher.
But with the onset of UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations, all clubs have become more conscious of the need to balance the books.
Van Persie is a notable exception but the bulk of the big money is spent on younger players with sell-on worth and clubs have trimmed fat from the first-team squads to minimise the wage bills, encouraged by the introduction of the 25-man squad rule.
Glance across average net spending by all Premier League clubs in the summer transfer windows over the last five years, Manchester City are way ahead with 65m, roughly double Chelsea in second. Liverpool lie third and United are fourth with a net summer spend over five years of 3m.
Tottenham and Arsenal record profits. The Arsenal board are under no illusions of what fans make of that after Thursday's AGM.
David Bick, a financial football expert from Square1 Consulting and the former financial PR man for United, said: 'It highlights the difference between United and Chelsea and City but it also shows that clubs are being more prudent, financially.
'They have already been behaving like the FFP rules are in place.'
@Sir Paul Fan...forgot about that...still, technichally they are at the top....and dont forget they went 70 or 80 something games without losing a league game at home which is insane.
- Drogba , London, 26/10/2012 04:14
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