TUESDAY CARABAO CUP: The Striker previews Tuesday’s semi-final second leg between CHELSEA v MIDDLESBROUGH with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
CHELSEA V MIDDLESBROUGH
8pm It’s crunch time in the Carabao Cup Semi-Finals on BETDAQ Betting Exchange this week! The general feeling heading into these ties was that we were almost certain to have a Chelsea v Liverpool Final. We might still get there, but we do have two very interesting second legs at least. Middlesbrough shocked Chelsea when winning the first leg 1-0, while Liverpool “only” beat Fulham 2-1 with home advantage in their first leg. We could see plenty of drama this week!
Obviously most football fans will expect Chelsea to bounce back here with home advantage and progress through. The market has them as red-hot favourites too. Chelsea are trading as short as 1.28 at the time of writing with Middlesbrough 11.5 and the draw is 6.8. Chelsea have no excuses coming into this tie, in fairness they had no excuses in the first leg either! They’ve had plenty of time to prepare for this fixture with the Premier League winter break giving them the weekend off and they went into that break with three wins in a row. Let’s not get too carried away however; they had an easy fixture list with the wins coming against Crystal Palace, Luton Town and Fulham.
It’s clear that there is a big gulf in class between the sides – there always tends to be when we have a Premier League side against a Championship side but the reality is Chelsea have thrown away a lot of games already this season. They sit in mid-table of the Premier League, and while their chances of a Top Four finish are already gone there is a chance they still get into Europe in some form given how many points the likes of Manchester United and Brighton have been dropping.
Middlesbrough had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Rotherham in the Championship at the weekend. They probably had one eye on this fixture but it was another disappointing result for them. They still in mid-table as well with a slim chance of making the playoffs this season. After getting there last season, they definitely took a backwards step results wise but they are still creating good chances. Their average xG created is 1.58 which is the fifth best attacking figure in the Championship. The issue has been they have been conceding far too many goals. It was actually exceptionally disappointing to see them fail to beat Rotherham as they have the worst attacking figure in the Championship!
It’s hard to see past the Chelsea win here, but given the way they have failed to get over the line this season I’m not interested in backing them as short as 1.28. Chelsea have been conceding more goals than they should be too, and in general have been quite sloppy at the back. We’re going to have two very different approaches here with Middlesbrough having something to hold onto while Chelsea have to chase the game. I can see Middlesbrough being very negative here, and that will have an impact on them going forward – even if Chelsea take a 1-0 lead they will still stay in their shell in my opinion. Under 2.5 goals looks cracking value at 1.78 in what could be a very cagey game if Chelsea can’t score early.
The Striker Says:
Three points win Under 2.5 goals at 1.78 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/CheMid
