Champions League
2012-11-07 - Chelsea vs Shakhtar Donetsk
A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted
Football : Europe : Champions League
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012, 7:45PM GMT
PREVIEW
Shakhtar Donetsk continued their impressive winning run at home with a 2-1 defeat of Chelsea, with the score very flattering to the Champions League holders.
Chelsea went behind very early before the game was more or less killed off with another goal soon after the 2nd half kicked off. Chelsea scored a consolation late on for 2-1 but by then the Ukrainian champs had switched off mentally. Just like Arsenal at Old Trafford, it was a one sided affair.
Now, Shakhtar are priced way too big coming into this as visitors. I think we must find a way to bet against Chelsea, as that is where the value is. Shakhtar have 7 points from their opening 3 games, beating everyone but Juventus, whom they drew with, 1-1. In both their other 2 games, they have scored 2 goals, and won.
Let's face it, despite that tidy home record in the Champions League, Chelsea have not been looking defensively sound at all. There was that game at Tottenham not too long ago, where they went from 1-0 up to 2-1 down, before coming back to win.
Then, at home against Manchester United they lost while conceding 3 goals and for those complaining about the red cards, you need look at their next 2 matches, where they conceded 4 goals to United in a wild win for another round of League Cup action, and at Swansea, despite leading, they were fortunate to finish 1-1.
Chelsea may well continue their unbeaten home run in Europe, but I think we need to give the visitors some respect for the way they are playing.
A win is not out of the question at all, and the Tuesday games showed that when there is a quality team visiting, they have every chance of doing something. Manchester City and Real Madrid, along with Schalke were all massive favourites to win, yet they all trailed for most of the game and were each fortunate to claw their way back to 2-2 finishes.
BETTING VERDICT
If you're feeling brave, take Shakhtar Donetsk. There are much, much worse bets to be had. If you're on Bet365 they have an offer that gives you a free Champions League in-play bet of up to £50 provided you stake that amount in a CL game pre kickoff too. This could be your in-play free no risk bet.
What has happened in all those games was goals from the visitors, and with there being enough talent, I'll take Shakhtar Donetsk to score at least 2 goals. That way we collect even if Chelsea do enough on offence to avoid defeat.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Chelsea 2-2 Shakhtar Donetsk
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Shakhtar Donetsk Team Total - Over 1.5 goals @ 3.35
