Costa Risked As Chelsea Take On Sporting

Premier League title pace-setters Chelsea travel to Portugal in the Champions League tonight (30th September, 19:45) to face Primeira Liga runners-up Sporting Lisbon. A wasteful Chelsea had to settle for a draw in their opening Group G encounter against German side Schalke. Cesc Fabregas` debut goal put the Stamford Bridge outfit 1-0 up 11 minutes into the match before a second-half strike from Klass-Jan Huntelaar brought proceedings level. In a post-match interview, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho told of his frustrations after seeing legendary striker Didier Drogba shoot wide and a Loic Remy chance scrambled off the goal-line. The result mimicked that of Sporting`s initial tie away at Slovenian champions NK Maribor. Former Manchester United striker Nani thought he had secured a vital win for the Portuguese side though Marco Silva`s men came unstuck as 18-year-old Maja Zahovic converted a last-gasp opportunity to square things up with only injury time remaining.

Chelsea, a 15/2 (ladbrokes) chance to lift the trophy come the end of the tournament, are the clear 4/5 favourites with most bookmakers to record their first Champions League win of the campaign. A home win can be backed at 17/4 (888sport, bet365, boylesports, unibet) whilst 11/4 (Numerous) says the match will end a draw. Mourinho has told a press conference that he is willing to take a risk on in-form striker Diego Costa in an effort to avoid being further frustrated by his strikers` profligacy. Costa has been used sparingly following a hamstring injury picked up on international duty causing the Spaniard to miss his country`s European Championship Qualifier against Macedonia. In spite of this niggling issue, Chelsea`s £32 million Athletico Madrid transfer has bagged eight goals in the club`s first six Premier League games. The 25-year-old can be backed at 5/4 with Spreadex to find the back of the net at any time tonight despite his manager telling the press that he has done next-to-no training in preparation for the fixture. `He`s doing almost nothing. He`s just resting and recovering from the tight muscle he has every time he accumulates fatigue.` The 51-year-old told journalists following the team`s confident 3-0 win over Aston Villa in which Costa succesfully converted his eighth chance. `I hope he goes home after this game and sleeps until tomorrow morning.`

Mourinho`s insistence that his top scorer plays may have something to do with alternative poacher Drogba exacerbating an ankle injury during training leaving the experienced forward out of the side`s up-coming title six-pointer with Arsenal and Ivory Coast`s pair of African Cup of Nations qualifying matches against the Democratic Republic of Congo. His absence means that Loic Remy is now the only like-for-like replacement for the Spaniard, himself 17/10 (betfair) to score against Sporting.

The Lisbon-based side have made a solid start to their 2014/15 Primiera Liga campaign, sitting in sixth position and finding themselves unbeaten following their first six games. They may have to do without their in-form finisher Islam Slimani, however, who has not played for the side since leaving the field when on international duty for Algeria against Ethiopia. In this case, the biggest risk to the Chelsea defence is Andre Carrillo who has already bagged three goals in the league this season and is 6/1 (betfair, paddy Power) to add an important fourth in all competitions to his tally tonight.

Very much like Chelsea, Sporting have scored at least once in every match they have played during these early stages. In light of this betfair are offering evens on both teams scoring at the Estadio Jose Alvalade tonight, with most bookmakers offering 21/20 on there being more than 2.5 netted goals.

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30/09/2014     © Frixo 2024