Posted on 08 Apr 2011 at 23:47 PM by
Formex
It has not been a good week for Chelsea. A draw at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke last Saturday effectively ended their hopes of retaining their Premier League title and the midweek Champions League defeat at home to Man United has left them with a mountain to climb in the second leg at Old Trafford next Tuesday. A home game against bottom club Wigan who they thrashed 8-0 at the Bridge last season maybe just what is required to take their mind off Tuesday night but no doubt Roberto Martinez will be dreading the prospect.
Not only did the Wigan boss have to endure the 8-0 hammering he also saw his team humiliated 6-0 in the reverse fixture at the DW Stadium earlier this season. The Latics have never kept a clean sheet against Chelsea and you can bet that record won’t be broken this Saturday. The Blues will hope that a few goals will get them in the mood for United and that Fernando Torres can at last break his Chelsea duck.
Man United have a home game themselves on Saturday when they host Fulham. The Cottagers have hardly excelled of late, although with Bobby Zamora back and scoring goals they beat Blackpool 3-0 in fair style last weekend. The Red Devils will have at least one eye on the Chelsea match and may well rest a key player or two so even though they boast a 14-1-0 home record this season in the league it would not be a major shock if Fulham took them to the wire and maybe claimed a point. A draw is worth a minimum bet at current odds.
Of much more interest from a betting perspective are Everton who travel to Molineux for Saturday’s early kick-off. Although Wolves have a very respectable home record (7-3-5) including victories over Chelsea, Man United and Man City they looked very moderate last week in a 4-1 loss at Newcastle and will still be without Kevin Doyle.
Doyle is not only their top scorer but is their key playmaker and his knee injury could cost Mick McCarthy’s team dear in the closing weeks of the season. Everton have moved into seventh place on the back of an excellent run and even without Arteta, Fellaini and Saha look to have enough to take all three points. At odds around 2/1 they look the best of the weekends bets.
It remains to be seen how Tottenham will recover from their Champions League humbling in the Bernabeu ahead of the home leg on Wednesday but they are certainly poor value to beat Stoke at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Stoke though have suffered eleven defeats on the road this term from 15 played so this is perhaps a game to avoid betting on.
On Sunday Arsenal travel to Blackpool in a game they should win with easy but following another failure last weekend, this time to beat Blackburn at the Emirates, they are hardly value at long odds-on. The Gunners defensive frailties and hopeless goalkeeping situation has cost them dear this season and with Blackpool scoring in all their home matches this could be much closer than the odds suggest.
Finally at some very attractive odds Birmingham make plenty of appeal at Blackburn in a key relegation clash on Saturday and Aston Villa and Newcastle looks a good bet for a draw at Villa Park on Sunday.