Chelsea vs Spurs Odds: Expect a low scoring affair in the first leg

Live on Sky Sports, Chelsea host fierce rivals Tottenham in this EFL Cup semi final 1st leg at Stamford Bridge, this Wednesday night at 7.45pm. Thomas Tuchel’s men were extremely impressive in their 2-2 draw against Liverpool where they came back from 2-0 down to earn a point courtesy of an absolute worldie by Kovacic from the edge of the box and a top clash finish into the top corner by Pulisic. The result did little good for both teams’ ambitions of catching Manchester City, who are running away with the title. Star striker Romelu Lukaku was dropped by Tuchel for this game after his recent interview revealing his intentions of going back to Inter in the near future. Fans were hurt by this interview but since then Lukaku has come forward to apologise to them, his teammates, the coach and the Chelsea board and will be in contention to start here against rivals Tottenham Hotspur. The visitors come into this off the back of some splendid results, going unbeaten in their last eight league games. They got the better of West Ham in the quarterfinals of this cup, beating them 2-1, and will now be looking to knockout the European Champions to qualify for the final.

Antonio Conte is expected to receive a warm welcome when he steps foot into Stamford Bridge again but it will be a different story after kickoff. The hosts have been dominant against Spurs in recent times losing just once out of their last eight meetings in all competitions. Their last head to head meeting was a comfortable 3-0 win for Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium earlier this season in the league. Looking at recent form, however, this is expected to be a tighter affair with both teams in with a decent chance of qualifying for the final.

A mouth-watering London Derby awaits us and as usual, I have you covered with my two best betting angles for this game included in the preview below:

Team News:

Christensen, Reece James, Chilwell, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah and Mendy are out for Chelsea while Werner is doubtful.

Cristian Romero, Steven Bergwijn and Ryan Sessegnon are out for Tottenham.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Sarr; Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Ziyech, Mount; Lukaku

Tottenham possible starting lineup:

Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies; Emerson, Winks, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Son, Kane, Gil

Tottenham have been defensively solid under Antonio Conte and I am expecting them to keep things tight in this 1st leg. They have seen under 2.5 goals in their last five away games in a row in the league and fatigue could also play a part when these two teams meet for this cup semifinal. I expect Chelsea to be on the front foot and dominate in this 1st leg whereas Tottenham will look to stay compact and hurt them on the counter. A draw could be a favourable result for Spurs going into the 2nd leg in-front of their fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I don’t see a goal fest here in the current circumstances and so will be backing under 2.5 goals @ 17/20 as our main 1pt bet for this game.

Japhet Tanganga should make his way back into the starting lineup for this game. He averages the most fouls (1.7) for any Spurs player and the derby factor should motivate him further, to put in strong tackles. He has already seen a red card earlier this season and could be booked against a free flowing Chelsea side. Hudson Odoi is another player who should start here after coming off the bench against Liverpool. He has been impressive in the final third having assisted Lukaku in the away win at Aston Villa with a perfect cross. He is creating two key chances per game for the team and could bag another assist here. Combining these two selections gives us a cracking longshot double @ 15/1 and I am happy to back that with a small 0.25pt stake for this cracking fixture on Wednesday night. You can load the betslip at Paddy Power directly by clicking the link above. 

Best of luck if you follow these selections. Please always gamble responsibly.