UNBEATEN Chelsea travel to Wembley to face capital rivals Chelsea for a blockbuster on Saturday evening Tom Love (@TomLove_18) picks out his favourite betting angle.
Tottenham v Chelsea | Saturday 24th November 2018, 17:30 | BT Sport
There’s no love-lost between these London rivals. The pair have conjured up some entertaining affairs in years gone by and Saturday evening’s showdown promises to be another intriguing contest.
Spurs play hosts for only the fifth time this season – considering that, I think it’s fair to say Mauricio Pochettino has done a sterling job, especially given the fact most of his main men went deep into the World Cup this summer.
Throw in the fact that Tottenham have had regular injuries to key players and their record becomes all the more impressive. The majority of Spurs’ good work has come against the lesser lights, mind.
When they play the big boys the North Londoners have tended to come unstuck. Tottenham have lost to Manchester City and Liverpool, as well as Watford in the Premier League. All defeats were by a single goal though, showing they remain competitive in games for the whole 90 minutes.
Chelsea can leave Wembley unscathed
Maurizio Sarri has yet to taste defeat in competitive English football. I find his style gives Chelsea a psychological advantage over opponents; the Blues monopolise possession and insert their game from the off, meaning they rarely have to change tact.
It’s no surprise to see Jorginho top of the pass chart, everything goes through him and positionally he’s excellent. Often dropping deep to kick-start attacks, he’s always an option for his teammates. Whether he can dictate the game away at a top team will make for interesting viewing.
Bookmakers can hardly split these two but Chelsea have slight favouritism at 8/5. That’s understandable given they’re performing above Spurs across all the major data metrics, albeit drawing in four of their last 7 and that’s the angle that takes my fancy here.
The stalemate is the biggest price of the three Match Odds options and makes most appeal at 5/2 (BetVictor). It’s true that Spurs have not had a game end all-square this campaign, but plenty of those matches have been settled by one-goal margins and tend to be tight.
A bout of bookings forecast
Given the rivalry between these two, it’s no surprise to see cards being a recurring theme. The angle I’m happy to take is for both teams to pick up 20+ Booking Points at 11/10 with SkyBet.
There’s plenty of players who a partial to a card, and that’s reflected in the fact there’s 12 players under 3/1 to pick up a booking. Serge Aurier is likely to deputise for Kieran Trippier and his erratic nature makes him a prime candidate, particularly coming up against Chelsea’s strong left-hand side.
Englishmen Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane can also get involved in battles.
Chelsea have been a fairly disciplined side this term but that’s because they’ve dominated games against the poorer opposition. When it doesn’t go all their way they too can get into a few scraps, as seen in games against Manchester United and Everton.
This bet would’ve landed in three of the last four meetings and given the magnitude of the clash it wouldn’t surprise me if things got fiery again.
Best Bets
Tottenham v Chelsea – Draw (5/2 BetVictor)
Tottenham v Chelsea – 20+ Bookings Points for each team (11/10 SkyBet)
