Chelsea v Cardiff City - Premier League Preview

Chelsea may reflect rather ruefully that their hopes of winning the title have pretty much evaporated thanks to some thoroughly mediocre displays against teams that they were expected to beat. Had they replicated their form against the top sides in the division then the Premier League trophy could already be on its way to Stamford Bridge.

The Blues’ record against the top teams this year has been nothing short of extraordinary. Chelsea have beaten Liverpool home and away, beaten Man City home and away, thrashed Arsenal at home and drew at the Emirates, beat Man Utd at home and drew away, beat Tottenham at home and drew away, and beat Everton at home, but lost to them away. That’s played 12, won 8, drawn 3, lost 1, scored 21, conceded 4. Yet they almost certainly won’t win the league because they’ve lost against Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Stoke and Newcastle. It is extremely difficult to understand this contrast.

At least, it is until you dig under the surface a little. It is the approach of Chelsea to the game that perhaps explains why they have perennially struggled to see off some of the lesser teams, while the big games have invariably suited them. The Blues’ cautious, counter-attacking style is well-suited to games of the highest magnitude, as their excellent run in the Champions League has shown, but they sometimes lack the creativity, guile and drive required to defeat smaller clubs who come to Stamford Bridge with an attitude that they are poorly placed to criticise.

So even though this game against Cardiff City is highly likely to be meaningless in terms of the final Premier League table, it will be interesting to see what sort of approach Chelsea brings to the table. If things were different, this could have been an extremely passionate occasion, but the fact that the Bluebirds are already mathematically relegated could see it be a rather tepid affair.

Cardiff’s season hasn’t been the sort of celebratory return to the Premier League that they were hoping for. Manager Malky Mackay was jettisoned rather ruthlessly by owner Vincent Tan, and the same individual has continually alienated his own supporters by insisting on changing the Cardiff home strip to red, and also making some other eccentric decisions which have been very poorly received. In such an atmosphere, Cardiff’s reasonable start to the season dissipated, and in truth they never looked remotely good enough to avoid the drop.

Thus, no-one should expect this to be a classic. While Chelsea will be expected to win, their players are not likely to be hugely motivated, and the result won’t make a great deal of difference to how their season is perceived. So the draw offers good value here, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this one remains deadlocked. I don’t see there being a lot of goals either, so these are my two tips for this particular end of season fixture.

Safe Bet – Under 2.5 goals (27/20 with ladbrokes) Value Bet – Draw (33/10 with BetVictor)

Go To bet365

#Ad

05/05/2014     © Frixo 2026