Chelsea host Arsenal in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi final on Wednesday might and our play comes in the match result market
Prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but subject to change.
Newcastle and Manchester City are the other semi finalists and the first leg of their match up took place at St. James Park on Tuesday
Chelsea
Chelsea have been drawn away from home in each of the three previous rounds and they won at Lincoln (2-1), Wolves (4-3) and most recently Cardiff (3-1).
Chelsea also made progress in the FA Cup last weekend with a 5-1 thrashing of Charlton away from home.
In the EPL Chelsea’s poor run saw coach Maresca replaced by Liam Rosenior in the new year. Chelsea have slipped out of contention in the title race and are now down in 8th position but only 4 points off a top 4 place.
Chelsea will return to Champions League action later this month. They are in 13th place with 10 points from 6 rounds of matches, 2 points shy of a top 8 spot and automatic qualification for the knockout rounds.
Arsenal
Arsenal’s EFL cup run began with a 2-0 win at Port Vale before they came out on top in home fixtures against Brighton (2-0) and then Palace in a penalty shoot out after a 1-1 draw.
Arsenal’s 3rd Round FA Cup tie away to Portsmouth last Sunday saw the Gunners come out on top 4-1 with Martinelli scoring a hat trick. .
Arsenal dropped points in drawing 0-0 at home to Liverpool last time out but Xmas and new year went pretty well and they are 6 points clear of Man City and Villa at the top of the standings.
In the UCL Arsenal boast the only 100% record, 6 wins from 6 and they are already close to securing automatic qualification for the knockout rounds with 2 games to go.
Recent Head to Head
The teams met in the EPL at this ground on the 30th November and it finished 1-1. Chelse had Caciedo sent off in the first half but took the lead through Chalobah early in the second period but Merino soon had Arsenal level and there was no further scoring.
The Betting
At the time of writing Chelsea are 21/10 to win the first leg with the draw at 24/10 and Arsenal can be backed at around 5/4.
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at 17/20 and it’s 7/10 for both teams to score.
The Verdict
Rosenior is an interesting choice as Chelsea coach and it will be interesting to see how his side go. My gut feel is Chelsea can avoid defeat here to keep things alive for the second leg and a draw is the most likely outcome.
Bets: Match result draw at 24/10 with Sportingbet
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change