Price Boost: Refreshed Chelsea star’s odds swelled to crush PSG
Published:
All eyes are on Diego Costa as he returns for Chelsea after an unscheduled three-week rest, yet Ladbrokes have boosted his first goalscorer odds out from 5/1 to a massive 7/1 for the Champions League trip to Paris St-Germain.
Costa’s unexpected breather was the result of a three-match ban for stamping on Liverpool’s Emre Can and his side’s early FA Cup exit, but he was in great form before the break, striking four times in three Premier League appearances in 2015.
Whereas Chelsea will be revitalised all over the pitch and meticulously prepared following a rare weekend off, Paris St-Germain have played three times in the past nine days.
That stamina hit appeared to reveal itself in their previous Ligue 1 fixture at home to lowly Caen, who they led 2-0 only to throw away two points by conceding in both the 89th and 90th minutes.
Costa has been an enormous success at Stamford Bridge, instantly adapting to the Premier League to fire 17 times in 19 starts.
It is arguable that the moment that he established himself as a here-to-stay world-class performer rather than a six-month sensation was his masterclass at this stage of last season’s competition for Atletico Madrid against AC Milan.
The Brazilian-born Spaniard broke the deadlock in both round-of-16 ties, scoring the late clincher in a 1-0 victory at San Siro, before notching three minutes into the second leg at the Vicente Calderon.
The 26-year-old then completed a glorious 4-1 triumph with his second of the night and third of the double-header in the 85th minute.
Chelsea opened the scoring in five of their six group games, doing so within 13 minutes in four of them.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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