If you are not a Man City or, perhaps, Burnley fan, then there is a good chance you are somewhat disappointed about how your club has met expectations this season. For Chelsea, as champions, that is certainly the case. While you must certainly tip your hat to City, it nonetheless rankles somewhat that Chelsea did not make a better defence of their title. In saying that, there are also some positive things to look forwards to over the coming weeks.
Starting with the FA Cup Semi-Final first of all, it is interesting to take a look at the bookmakers view on the four teams left in the competition. While it is, of course, difficult to pick a favourite from Chelsea, United and Spurs, you would normally expect some sort of consensus. That’s not the case at all.
FA Cup odds vary dramatically from bookmaker to bookmaker
For example, Chelsea are outright favourites for the cup at 13/8 with Bet365, Coral and a few others. However, they are third favourites to win it (behind Spurs 2/1, United 9/4) at 5/2 with Sky Bet, Unibet and Betway. Of course, much of this confusion is down to the fact United and Spurs play each other in the other semi-final. Southampton, who will certainly be no pushovers for Chelsea, are available at 14/1 generally.
The other reason that the bookmakers can’t seem to settle on Chelsea’s odds is that they do not know which Chelsea side will turn up in the semi-final and, possibly, final. Will it be the side that looked so accomplished when putting five past Stoke at the end of 2017? The one that went toe to toe with Barcelona for large periods of the Champions League Last 16 games? Or will it be the side that crashed 3-0 at home to Bournemouth and followed it up by a 4-1 defeat to Watford? You can see the predicament for the bookmakers.
Top 4 Race may hinge upon Stamford Bridge games vs Liverpool and Spurs
The bookmakers have, however, settled on a pattern in the race for the Top 4. They have put Manchester United, who have nine-point cushion on Chelsea, way out on front at 1/100, with Liverpool (1/12) and Spurs (1/7) probably only tempting big-time punters. Chelsea are best-priced at 3/1 (William Hill) to secure a Top 4 place. Is it worth betting on? You might want to check out this guide to UK bookmakers’ free bets, because it is a long shot, but one not without merit.
Indeed, there is still some hope for wide-eyed fans of The Blues, mainly due to the fact that Chelsea have still to welcome both Tottenham (1st April) and Liverpool (5th May) to Stamford Bridge. A couple of victories there would certainly open up the race, with the only issue being that Chelsea will need to be almost perfect everywhere else. The way things are going you could see Chelsea get back into the race, then run afoul of relegation-fighting Newcastle on the last game of the season.
In the end, there should be some tempered optimism from Chelsea fans. Winning the Cup for the first time in eight years would be nice and who knows what could happen if league form improves between now and the 12th of May. Questions about everything else can wait until the summer to be addressed.