Live on Skysports 1: Sun 13.30 & 16.00:Chelsea are Stan James’ 4/6 favoruites to see off Manchester City in Sunday’s big Premiership clash.
After a disappointing run of results, culminating in an FA Cup exit via a penalty shootout against Everton, Chelsea’s form has picked up pretty impressively with a 2-1 victory over league leaders Manchester United and a largely comfortable 3-1 triumph at Blackpool. Subsequently the Blues title bid isn’t quite dead in the water although they simply have to beat United’s neighbours City to keep their slim hopes alive.
Stan James make Carlo Ancelotti’s side 4/6 to collect a vital three points at the expense of Roberto Mancini’s men, Betdaq’s 6.0 (5/1) outsiders, who are just seven points adrift of top spot themselves. However, City one feels, may be more concerned with ensuring they finish in the top four and they would probably settle for a point, a result rated at 11/4 by bet365.
Nevertheless, the visitors haven’t won an away match in any competition since Boxing Day and so buoyant Chelsea have to be the pick, although as the odds are short it may be worth backing them at 13/5 courtesy of Partybets to shade it by one.
More specifically, Betfred offer 6/1 for the Blues to gain revenge for a 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at Eastlands by themselves grabbing the only goal and in attack Fernando Torres must surely be on the verge of breaking his Chelsea duck and Sportingbet chalk 11/2 against the Spaniard doing so by opening the scoring at Stamford Bridge.
Bookies are finding it hard to decipher Sunderland’s clash with Liverpool at the Stadium of Light, pricing both teams at 7/4 but firms such as Paddy Power, that have sided with the Black Cats, subsequently making Kenny Dalglish’s men 9/5 outsiders, looked to have called it correctly.
It’s obvious that Liverpool have improved significantly under Dalglish but the Scot still has plenty of problems to iron out at Anfield and their meek surrender in the 3-1 reverse at West Ham shows that Liverpool haven’t cured their travel sickness. For their part, Steve Bruce’s troops snapped a four-match losing streak with a morale-boosting draw at Arsenal last time out and they could just sneak this by a one-goal margin (3/1, William Hill).
Despite struggling for goals in Europe, the Reds haven’t failed to score in the league in 2011 and so Totesport’s evens for both teams to score isn’t without appeal. It follows that a 2-1 Sunderland success is the most tempting score bet at 10/1 (Ladbrokes) while Andy Carroll, who would love to open his Liverpool account against his former club’s bitter rivals, is a massive 2/1 with Coral to notch at any stage.
Recommended Bets:
Fernando Torres to score first – 11/2 (Sportingbet)
Chelsea to beat Man City by one goal – 13/5 (Partybets)
Andy Carroll to score at any time – 2/1 (Coral)
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