Porto v Chelsea: Betting Preview

Porto v Chelsea
Live on Sky Sports 2. Kick off 7.45pm

Porto and Chelsea have already qualified to the knock-out stages of the Champions League, but Betfair’s “Mystical” Mike Norman thinks both will be desperate to top Group D.

It’s an incredibly difficult match to call, which is backed up in the Match Odds market with Porto available to back at 3.0 (Betfair), Chelsea at 2.64 (Betfair), and The Draw – which is my tentative selection – available to back at 3.4 (Betfair).

I don’t claim to be a huge fan of Portuguese football – unlike betting.Betfair editor Jamie ‘The Pacman’ Pacheco, but I am fan of Porto and from the brief footage I’ve seen of them this season they have disappointed me slightly, especially on the road. They currently lie third in their domestic league, five points behind surprise leaders Braga, but they are unbeaten on home soil and should be capable of putting up a bold show against a Chelsea side that can do little wrong at present.

Carlo Ancelotti is likely to make a few changes to his starting 11 but is unlikely to risk ‘returning-from-injury’ players like Deco, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack ahead of the Blues massive clash against Arsenal on Sunday.

I doubt we’ll see many goals either, though I’m not interested in taking the 1.69 (Betfair)  currently available about Under 2.5 Goals – that looks a little short to me. Over 2.5 Goals is available to back at 2.52 (Betfair) but personally I will be leaving this market alone unless the Under 2.5 price drifts to around 1.8 – my request is up if anyone wants to match me!

The last four meetings between these two famous sides have ended in either a draw, or one side winning by a single goal. I definitely think this is the way to play in the Correct Score market, and though I haven’t got a huge feeling about the outcome, the 0-0 and 1-1 draws have to be considered at 9.8 (Betfair) and 7.2 (Betfair) respectively, as well as the 1-0 to Porto (9.4 Betfair) and 1-0 to Chelsea (8.6 Betfair) options.

I’d love to see the highly entertaining Joe Cole have a great second half of the season and more importantly, stay injury free ahead of the World Cup. If he starts against Porto on Wednesday night don’t hesitate to throw a few quid his way in both the First Goalscorer and To Score markets. He should be available to back at around 14.0 (Betfair) and 5.0 (Betfair) respectively once these markets materialise.

• Best Bet: Back The Draw @ 3.4
• Also: Back Joe Cole in First Goalscorer market @ 14.0; Back Joe Cole in To Score market @ 5.0

Reproduced with permission from betting.Betfair.com. © The Sporting Exchange Limited

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