Champions League
2012-11-07 - Chelsea vs Shakhtar Donetsk
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : UCL group E
Venue: Stamford Bridge - London
Wednesday 7th November – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1
Chelsea
Chelsea will be seeking revenge after being outplayed on every level in Donetsk by the classy Ukrainian title holders leaving the European champions with only four points after three games.
It’s not a situation they are used with, Chelsea usually qualified without much trouble from the group stage, but I guess this is what happens when three top sides are drawn into the same group.
The Blues have all the right to hope for a positive result with their dominant home record, the Londoners have not lost a home game in the competition since a 1-0 semi-final first-leg defeat to Manchester United on April 6 2011.
Chelsea won all three home group games in 2011/12, scoring ten goals without conceding, and recorded three more home victories in the knockout stages as they claimed the trophy for the first time.
David Luiz and Juan Mata sit out the weekend match against Swansea, but their injuries were not serious and will be back available for this match. So is John Terry, who has just completed his four-game domestic ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. The only doubts are Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar extended their winning run to 14 games in the Ukrainian league with a 2-0 victory over Metalurg Zaporojie on Saturday and they will now be looking to continue with the fine performances in the CL as well.
Their away record against English opponents is quite worrying though, Shakhtar have lost on three of their last four visits to England. Their last visit ended in a 5-1 loss at the Emirates stadium against Arsenal in 2010.
Coach Mircea Lucescu has some good memories from playing against Chelsea though, the Romanian manager was at the helm when Besiktas triumphed 2-0 in west London in October 2003.
On their previous travel in the competition Shakhtar were unfortunate not to leave Turin with three points as the match at the Juventus Stadium finished 1-1 with the Ukrainians wasting a lot of excellent chances to score more.
Mircea Lucescu has a full-strength squad to choose from with no injury concerns, so Dmytri Chygrynskiy may come into the side after missing the first game between the two teams.
The Betting Verdict
The Blues started the season well, but they have now won just one of their last four games in all competitions, only picking up a point in their last EPL game against Swansea over the weekend.
Chelsea couldn’t find response to Shakhtar’s game two weeks ago, but this will be a whole different match. I expect The Blues to have the initiative here, playing at Stamford Bridge always gives them an edge.
The best example was their Capital One Cup match against Manchester United when Chelsea showed a lot of character scoring deep into stoppage time to avoid defeat and then won the game with two goals in the added time.
However, I also expect the likes of Fernandinho, Teixeira, Willian and Adriano to create a lot of panic in Chelsea’s defense which hasn’t been the most solid lately. The players I mentioned make Shakhtar one of the most entertaining teams to watch, they create chances with a lot of ease and they can also be disciplined defensively.
With that in mind I find the “Shakhtar to score two or more goals” bet very appealing at these odds, they do have the quality to punish Chelsea when given the chance and there’s also the fact that there’s been nearly a year since they failed to score in a competitive match.
I wouldn’t go so far to consider them favorites here, Chelsea are the European champions after all and have an impressive home record scoring two or more on five of their last six home games, only Barcelona conceded less than two goals at Stamford Bridge recently.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Chelsea 2-2 Shakhtar Donetsk
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Shakhtar total goals - over 1.5 at 3.35 at BetssonConfidence: 4/10
