Swansea v Chelsea: Welsh club’s job not done yet

Swansea are in pole position to make an unlikely Wembley appearance but they had best be wary of Chelsea’s pristine away form ahead of the second leg of their Capital One Cup semi final.

Their two previous visits to the Liberty Stadium may have yielded no wins, but five straight victories on the road will give the Blues full confidence of overturning the two-goal deficit the south Wales club earned in the first leg. Still, the odds remain stacked against the European champions, who are 5/2 to qualify for the final, with the Swans priced at 2/7.

Michael Laudrup’s side are not exactly a soft touch at home, having allowed only Everton and Norwich to get the better of them on their own patch this season and Swansea are currently enjoying a five-match unbeaten run in front of their own fans.

The Toffees were the only team to win by a margin that would suffice to see Chelsea advance without requiring extra time, which exemplifies the task Rafa Benitez and his charges have at hand. A Blues victory by three goals is priced up at 10/1 with Ladbrokes and, as daunting as this challenge appears, they’ve managed to rack up three wins by this margin in their five-match away-day winning run, including successive 5-1 victories in their previous two cup matches.

It’s fair to argue that these hefty triumphs came against opposition inferior to Swansea (Leeds and Southampton) and it would be just as hefty a shock were it to come in this time. However, these scores do correlate with betting trends that have taken place in Swansea’s recent home matches, opening the door for punters to rake in some profit.

Both Leeds and Southampton bagged the opening goals of their cup clashes with the Blues and Swansea have broken the deadlock in each of their previous three home matches. They’re priced at 6/4 to be the quickest off the mark here which would add a few more hundred feet on top of the mountain Chelsea are attempting to scale.

These wins for the west Londoners also featured over 3.5 goals and, if they are to advance here, there’s every chance this game’s haul will be north of this mark. Each of the Swans’ last three outings have yielded enough goals for this bet to be come in and, at 7/4, backing over 3.5 to be scored here could ensure a tidy profit.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date