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Carling Cup Final: Chelsea v Tottenham |
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Written by Martin Bishop
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Thursday, 21 February 2008 |
On Sunday there is the Carling Cup Final at Wembley between Tottenham Hotspur from north London and the mighty Chelsea from the west of the city. Funded extravagantly by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich Chelsea certainly have a more valuable team – but in a Cup Final pretty much anything can happen and there are decent bets to make.
Chelsea are hunting their third Carling Cup in four seasons, and that recent record of success has been enough to persuade SportsBetting.com football bettors to back the favourites with confidence, hitting them at a clip of 75%. As well as superiority in the competition's recent history, Chelsea can call upon a superb head-to-head record against their London rivals during the Premier League era.
 Jubilant fans celebrated wildly when Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-1 at home in November 2006 because it was their first league win over the side since February 1990. The Premier League stats are compelling for Chelsea backers: 20 wins, 10 draws and that sole defeat makes one of the most one-sided records in the top flight. Indeed, since that isolated defeat two years ago Chelsea have twice beaten Spurs to nil (2-0 and 1-0) so normal service would appear to have been resumed.
Another negative for Spurs is they go into the game with two days fewer rest than Chelsea, having faced Slavia Prague in the Uefa Cup on Thursday night. Chelsea may have had an away midweek European tie (at Olympiakos on Tuesday night) but these extra days to prepare for this Final may prove crucial, particularly if the game goes into extra-time or to penalties.
The major factor in Tottenham's favour is actually the manner in which they trounced Arsenal in the semi-final. Their 5-1 victory in the second leg, regarded as one of their finest performances in recent seasons, confirmed two things: that Spurs are capable of winning knock-out ties against the finest opposition, and that they can both defend and attack successfully against some of the most accomplished players in the world. With memories of that outstanding second-leg performance still fresh, Spurs' players will have no inferiority complex here.
Chelsea v Tottenham - Carling Cup Final - Sunday, 9:00 AM EST
Tottenham: 3.20 - Over 2.5 (1.95)
Chelsea: 2.00 - Under 2.5 (1.75)
Tie: 3.20
Enjoy all the sports action this weekend. You can wager on all the European Football matches at SportsBetting.com.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 February 2008 )
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