Chelsea vs Everton
FreeIt’s a sad day when it’s the last football game of the English football season, isn’t it? We’re then forced to actually interact with women and even, God forbid, family! It makes me shudder to even think about it, frankly, so let’s make this last game of the season a profitable one!
Let’s get down to basics here – Chelsea are favourites to lift the FA Cup and rightfully so because their squad is stronger and better than Everton’s. I don’t consider that a disrespectful statement to David Moyes and his team, despite the fantastic job he’s done at the Merseyside club, but the side with most money tends to buy the better players.
As with all finals, there’s always an element of unpredictability, that unknown factor that means caution must be used when placing bets on this game. However, looking at what we can deal with – head-to-heads suggest this will be a close encounter, be it a final or not. It’s rare these games involve over 2.5 goals so playing the under card should be fruitful, even if the odds are not.
Everton have proven themsevles worthy adversaries this season, becoming somewhat notorious for being hard to beat, compact, and efficient. However, the trouble is with a team like that is that when you miss one key part of this chain, the chain becomes considerably weaker. I’m talking about Phil Jagielka, of couse. Injury rules him out of this clash and for Everton to win this game, they need all their first team players playing their best football. To me, him missing this game immediately puts them on the back foot. Don’t get me wrong, they’re going to work their socks off as they always do, but quality is what will win this game. Everton laboured past a Manchester United second and possibly even third string team despite being second best throughout the game, so their tenacity certainly isn’t in question. However, Chelsea have a terrific squad and are capable of playing whatever game they so desire. Everton have to contain Chelsea’s midfield to have a chance in this game and I just don’t think they’re capable of it. Then again, this is the FA Cup, where the unexpected has a tendency to rear its head so do approach with caution. That said, I think odds of about 8/11 on Chelsea to win this game in 90 minutes are something of a bargain.
The key area of this game in my opinion will be set pieces. Both are physical squads with big players. For that reason, I think the odds of Ballack to score anytime (7/1) and Terry to score anytime (10/1) are certainly worth a punt, as is Drogba to score anytime, although the odds are quite poor as he’s only at 7/4. In my opinion, a scoreline of 1-0 with either of the above goalscorers does look extremely promising. Chelsea have played very well under Guus Hiddink and will want to wave adios with a trophy for him. When you have two sides playing each other with one being a tenacious side with some quality and the other being a quality side with some effort, you tend to end up with a draw. When you have the quality side grafting as hard as their tenacious opponents, you tend to find the better side wins the game. Unfortunately for Everton, I do suspect that Chelsea are going to outfox them in the final and ultimately win the game.
To summarise – regardless of the odds, the better bets of today are backing either Terry, Ballack or Drogba to score at any time, to play the under 2.5 goals card, or to back Chelsea to win 1-0. Backing Phil Neville or Marouane Fellaini to get booked at any time is also worth a small punt.
Saturday’s Picks
My tips:
As we reach the conclusion of some leagues, some very interesting bets arise from the mist. I’ve listed a few sides below in no particular order that I think could be very worthwhile in terms of value and likelihood:
Ceske Budejovice at 6/5 – they’re hosting Teplice who are poor on the road and competed in the Czech Cup Final mid-week
Grenoble at 2/1 (draw no bet) – they’re hosting Sochaux who need a point to secure survival but the visitors are woeful on the road and the hosts are decent at home
DAC Dunajska Streda at 10/3 – the hosts need at least a point to stay up, their illustrious opponents have nothing to play for and are one of the weaker “bigger” sides on the road in Slovakia. Take at draw no bet because the hosts are on a miserly run of form
Deportivo La Coruna at 23/20 – Barcelona will be resting players after their mid-week triumph in the European Champions League and the hosts need all 3 points to attempt to beat Valencia to a UEFA Cup spot. Riazor is no place for a side without 100% motivation
My favourite treble of the day includes OGC Nice, Ceske Budejovice and Kecskemeti TE at about 6/1.
Aside from the above bet, I’m somewhat hesitant to list trebles/accumulators for you to back due to it being the end of the season, a time when you need to make your own luck. So what I’ve decided to do is to seperate them into different groups for you to mix and match at your leisure:
Makeweights:
Atletico Madrid, Deportivo Xerez, Real Zaragoza, IFK Goteborg, Tenerife, Bari, Wisla Krakow, CFR Cluj, Saint-Etienne
Likely:
Chelsea, Lech Poznan, Besiktas JK, Sillamae Kalev, LOSC Lille, Lanus, Girondins de Bordeaux, Olympique de Marseille, MFK Kosice, Botafogo, MTK Budapest, Parma, Gyori ETO FC
As ever, any queries/explanations required, feel free to email me at thefootytipster@gmail.com. For the complete picks listing, see below!
Argentinian Primera Division:
Independiente vs Rosario Central (7) 2-1
Godoy Cruz de Mendoza vs Colon de Santa Fe (5) 1-1
Lanus vs San Lorenzo de Almagro (8) 2-1
Belarusian Vysshaya Liga:
Vitebsk vs Granit Mikashevichi (6) 1-1
FC Minsk vs Gomel (6) 1-0
Dinamo Minsk vs MTZ-RIPO Minsk (7) 2-2
Smorgon vs Torpedo Zhodino (7) 1-2
Dinamo Brest vs Dnepr Mogilev (7) 2-0
Brazilian Serie A:
Coritiba vs Goias (5) 1-1
Atletico Mineiro vs Santo Andre (7) 2-0
Botafogo vs Sport Recife (8) 2-1
Colombian Futbol Profesional:
Deportes Tolima vs Once Caldas Manizales (7) 2-1
Cucuta Deportivo vs Atletico Junior (5) 1-1
Czech Republic Gambrinus Liga:
Ceske Budejovice vs Teplice (7) 2-0
Slavia Prague vs Slovan Liberec (7) 2-1
Brno vs Pribram (6) 1-1
Viktoria Zizkov vs Viktoria Plzen (7) 0-2
Kladno vs Banik Ostrava (6) 1-0
Sigma Olomouc vs Bohemians Prague (7) 2-1
Jablonec vs Zlin (7) 2-1
Mlada Boleslav vs Sparta Prague (7) 1-2
Ecuadorian Primera A:
Deportivo Espoli Cayambe vs Deportivo Quito (6) 1-2
LDU Portoviejo vs Barcelona SC (6) 1-0, at least one red card in this game
English FA Cup Final:
Chelsea vs Everton (8) under 2.5 goals
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Sillamae Kalev vs Nomme Kalju (8) 2-0
Tallinna Kalev vs Flora Paide (7) 2-0
Tulevik Viljandi vs Trans Narva (7) 1-2
French Ligue 1:
Stade Malherbe de Caen vs Girondins de Bordeaux (8) 1-2
Grenoble vs Sochaux (7) under 2.5 goals
LOSC Lille vs AS Nancy-Lorraine (8) 2-1
Lorient vs Le Mans (6) 1-0
Olympique de Marseille vs Stade Rennais (8) 2-1
Nantes vs Auxerre (7) 1-2
OGC Nice vs Le Havre (8) 2-0
Paris Saint-Germain vs AS Monaco (7) 2-0
Saint-Etienne vs Valenciennes (8) 2-1
Toulouse vs Olympique Lyonnais (7) 1-1
Hungarian Soproni Liga:
Debreceni VSC vs Paksi SE (7) 2-1
Kaposvari Rakoczi vs Budapest Honved (7) 2-1
BFC Siofok vs Gyori ETO FC (8) 1-2
Szombathelyi Haladas vs Zalaegerszegi TE (5) 1-1
Kecskemeti TE vs Diosgyori VTK (9) 3-1
Rakospalotai EAC vs MTK Budapest (8) 1-2
Nyiregyhaza Spartacus vs Vasas Budapest (6) 1-1
International Friendlies:
Oman vs Egypt (7) 0-2
Cyprus vs Canada (7) 2-1
Jamaica vs El Salvador (6) 1-1
Irish Premier League:
Shamrock Rovers vs Drogheda United (7) 2-0
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs MS Ashdod (7) 2-1
Bnei Sakhnin vs Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv (7) 1-1
Hakoah Maccabi Amidar vs Hapoel Petach-Tikva (6) 0-0
Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona vs Maccabi Petach-Tikva (7) 1-0
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Maccabi Netanya (7) 2-1
Italian Serie B:
Albinoleffe vs Ancona (7)
Pisa vs Brescia (7)
US Avellino vs Empoli (7)
Grosseto vs Frosinone (7)
Ascoli vs Livorno (8)
Triestina vs Modena (6)
Sassuolo vs Parma (8)
Vicenza vs Piacenza (6)
Cittadella vs Rimini (6)
Mantova vs Salernitana (7)
Bari vs Treviso (8)
Montenegrin Prva Liga:
Lovcen Cetinje vs Decic Tuzi (8) draw no bet
Rudar Pljevlja vs Zeta Golubovci (7)
Kom Podgorica vs Grbalj Radanovici (6)
OFK Petrovac vs Sutjeska Niksic (5)
Jezero Plav vs Buducnost Podgorica (7)
Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje vs Mogren Budva
Polish Ekstraklasa:
Gornik Zabrze vs Polonia Warsaw (7) 1-1
Jagiellonia Bialystok vs GKS Belchatow (6) 2-1
Lech Poznan vs Cracovia Krakow (8) 2-1
Legia Warsaw vs Ruch Chorzow (7) 2-0
LKS Lodz vs Polonia Bytom (6) 0-0
Wisla Krakow vs Slask Wroclaw (8) 2-0
Piast Gliwice vs Lechia Gdansk (6) 1-0
Arka Gdynia vs Odra Wodzislaw (7) 1-1
Romanian Liga:
CFR Cluj vs Pandurii Targu Jiu (8) 2-0
Farul Constanta vs Gaz Metan Medias (7) 2-1
Politehnica Iasi vs Gloria Buzau (6) 1-0
Vaslui vs Rapid Bucharest (7) 1-1
Russian Premier League:
Tom Tomsk vs Dinamo Moscow (7) under 2.5 goals
Lokomotiv Moscow vs Spartak Moscow (6) 1-1, at least one red card in this game
Rostov-na-Donu vs Terek Grozny (6) 1-0, draw no bet
Zenit St Petersburg vs Kuban Krasnodor (7) 2-0
Krylya Sovetov Samara vs FK Moscow (7) 2-1
Serbian Super Liga:
Cukaricki vs Partizan Belgrade (7) 1-2
Hajduk Kula vs Borac Cacak (7) 1-1
Jagodina vs Javor Ivanjica (6) 1-0
Napredak Krusevac vs Red Star Belgrade (6) 1-1
OFK Belgrade vs Banat Zrenjanin (6) 1-0
Rad Belgrade vs Vojvodina Novi Sad (7) 1-2
Singaporean S-League:
Home United vs Armed Forces (8) 1-3
Slovakian Corgon Liga:
DAC Dunajska Streda vs MSK Zilina (7) 2-1
Ruzomberok vs Slovan Bratislava (6) 1-1
Banska Bystrica vs Spartak Trnava (6) 1-1
Zlate Moravce vs Artmedia Petrzalka (7) 1-2
Dubnica vs Nitra (7) 2-1, draw no bet
MFK Kosice vs Tatran Presov (8) 2-0
Spanish Primera Liga:
Real Mallorca vs Villarreal (6) 1-1
Deportivo La Coruna vs Barcelona (7) 2-1
Atletico Madrid vs Almeria (9) 3-0
Valencia vs Athletic Club de Bilbao (6) 2-2, at least one red card in this game
Spanish Segunda Liga:
Girona vs Gimnastic de Tarragona (6)
Deportivo Xerez vs Eibar (9)
Sevilla Atletico vs Tenerife (9)
Deportivo Alaves vs Huesca (6)
Real Murcia vs Alicante (7)
Real Zaragoza vs Albacete Balompie (9)
Levante vs Rayo Vallecano de Madrid (7)
Swedish Allsvenskan:
IFK Goteborg vs Brommapojkarna (9) 3-1
Trelleborgs vs Gefle (6) 2-1
Swiss Super League:
Aarau vs Vaduz (8) 2-0
Luzern vs Neuchatel Xamax (7) 1-2
Sion vs Bellinzona (6) 1-1
Turkish Super Lig:
Antalyaspor vs Ankaragucu (6) 2-1
Istanbul BB vs Bursaspor (6) 1-1
Denizlispor vs Besiktas JK (8) 1-3
Galatasaray vs Sivasspor (7) 2-1
Genclerbirligi vs Kayserispor (6) 1-1
Konyaspor vs Ankaraspor (6) 0-0
Trabzonspor vs Fenerbahce (7) 1-1
Uruguayan Primera Division:
Danubio vs Central Espanol (7) 2-0
Penarol vs Cerro CA (6) 1-1
Enjoy your free betting tips!