IT’S time to find out who’ll reach the Capital One Cup Final. First up on Tuesday night it’s Chelsea against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) gives us his view on whether Chelsea can bounce back from their Saturday humiliation.
Chelsea v Liverpool | Tuesday 19:45 | Sky Sports 1
Was Chelsea’s FA Cup defeat to Bradford on Saturday the ultimate Cup shock? My friends and I swapped texts after the game on that very subject and some of them were of that view. For me I’d still rank bottom of the Fourth Division Wrexham’s 2-1 win over top of the Football League Arsenal in 1992 as the big one.
Having said that Chelsea must be hurting. Jose Mourinho must have been crawling round his mansion on Saturday night barely able to look his wife in the eye. There’s a temptation to assume they’ll come back spitting fury on Tuesday night.
But what of Liverpool? It would be a fair assessment to say they deserved more than just a 1-1 draw from the first leg last week and there’s a definite sense of recaptured progress at Anfield at the moment.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have lost just one match in their last 16 games and that’s huge credit to him after the shitstorm he had to bat off just before Christmas.
Chelsea though have a formidable record at Stamford Bridge and were P16 W15 D1 L0 going into the match against Bradford on Saturday. It surely must have been complacency that caused that Horlicks of a result and you can be sure Mourinho will have kicked that well and truly out the players systems.
There’s also the dominance that Chelsea hold over Liverpool in recent years. They’re unbeaten in six and since Jose Mourinho returned to face his old subordinate Brendan Rodgers he’s P4 W3 D1 L0 F7 A3 against him.
Chelsea though are a rancid price at 13/20 with BetVictor. It’s a price that simply doesn’t reflect the improvement we’ve witnessed in Liverpool in recent weeks.
However I do think they’ll win and qualify for the Capital One Cup Final. A number of bets have flashed through my thinking (Chelsea HT-FT at 8/5 and Chelsea & BTTS 13/5 for example) but the 21/20 on exactly two or three goals seems to fit how I see the match playing out. That bet would have paid out in five of the last six encounters between these sides.
TOPICS English Football Tips Football Premier League TipsBest Bet
Chelsea v Liverpool – Exactly 2 or 3 Goals (21/20 BetVictor)
