Chelsea v Rubin Kazan: Blues will stumble into Europa League semis
Published:It wasn’t first on their list of priorities at the start of the season – in fact, it wasn’t on any list doing the rounds at Stamford Bridge – but, thanks to their 3-1 first leg win over Rubin Kazan, Chelsea are looking in great shape to lift the Europa League title.
The Blues are currently the 7/4 favourites to win the cup but are the 7/4 outsiders to win this second-leg clash and, based on their away from in Europe, it’s easy to see why.
They lost 1-0 to Steaua Bucharest in an earlier Europa League game and succumbed to defeats on the road to Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk in their ill-fated Champions League defence.
With the Blues as good as through to the semi-finals – and a last four FA Cup game against Manchester City coming up – there is little need for Chelsea to overexert themselves in this encounter.
Backing the hosts to win at 6/4 looks well worth consideration, while a draw pays out at an even better 23/10.
Meanwhile, the Kazan Stadium hasn’t exactly been host to bundles of goals this season, with each of their last nine matches on home soil yielding less than 2.5 goals and seven of those seeing less than 1.5 scored.
Under 2.5 goals for this clash is available at a very tidy 3/4, while a slightly riskier under 1.5 goals is currently trading at 23/10.
Finally, Fernando Torres found the net in the first leg and has been in much improved form over recent weeks. The Spaniard is 5/1 to score first and 6/4 to score at any time.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
