Chelsea v Villarreal Tips: Tuchel to taste success in Super Cup

Live on BT Sports, European Champions Chelsea go head to head against Europa League winners Villareal at Windsor Park in Belfast this Wednesday at 8pm. Being in charge of Chelsea for just half a season, Thomas Tuchel has completely transformed this Chelsea side and instilled a winning mentality into the team. Towards the end of last season, they were incredibly hard to score against and also ended up as the best defence in Europe conceding just 4 goals in their way to Champions League glory. The blues knocked out Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Porto on their way to the final but were still classed as underdogs against Manchester City who they beat 1-0 to become Champions of Europe.

Unai Emery led Villareal to their first ever European trophy in what was a dominant Europa League campaign. They knocked out the likes of Salzburg, Dynamo Kiev, Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal before setting up a mouth-watering final against Manchester United. 21 converted penalties and a De Gea miss later, they were crowned the Europa League Champions. This is their first ever appearance in a UEFA Super Cup final and they will be looking to cause a major upset to lift another trophy.

Chelsea have had a decent pre-season so far with wins against Peterborough, Bournemouth and Arsenal and a draw against their fierce rivals Tottenham. They looked extremely sharp and match-fit in the draw against Tottenham and were leading 2-0 until their “B-team” players came on and conceded 2 goals. On the other hand, Villareal are winless in the 6 pre-season fixtures they have played coming into this game including losses to Leicester City, Marseille and Valencia. Confidence will be on the lower side and they have a huge task ahead of them as they face one of the best teams in Europe at the moment. However, this is a one-off fixture and form sometimes goes out of the window in these sort of games. An exciting clash is on the cards and I have covered the game with my 3 best bets below:

Team News:

Chelsea have a fully fit squad heading into this game. Players who returned late from the Euros/Copa America are expected to be on the bench.

Pau Torres is out for Villareal. Samuel Chukweze and Daniel Parejo are unlikely to feature due to injuries while Coquelin, Rulli and Iborra may miss out due to a covid-19 scare in the camp.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Mendy; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi, Kovacic, Kante, Alonso; Ziyech, Werner; Havertz

Villareal possible starting lineup:

Asenjo; Gaspar, Foyth, Albiol, Pedraza; Yeremy, Morlanes, Trigueros, Dia; Moreno, Alcacer



Chelsea have the better squad on paper and come into this game with a lot more confidence than Villarreal who have faced to win a single game during pre-season. Chelsea’s strength in squad depth is also superior and could prove to be the difference at such an early stage of the season. Chelsea had the best defence in Europe last season and always look very solid at the back under Tuchel so I am adding Villarreal under 1.5 goals to the Bet Builder. Finally, adding Villarreal over 0.5 cards in the 2nd half as I expect Villarreal to try and break up Chelsea’s free flowing football as well as foul them on the counter in the 2nd half. Overall, 1.80 odds on this Bet Builder looks good value and we will take it as our main 1pt bet.

In their winning Europa League campaign, Juan Foyth averaged the most tackles (3.1) and the most fouls (1.9) per game for any Villarreal player. He also received two yellow cards in the Europa league as well as five bookings in just 13 starts in La Liga. As an ex-Spurs player, the rivalry with Chelsea could also be a factor here and I can see him picking up a card for a poor challenge against Chelsea’s highly technical players. 5/2 for a Foyth booking looks a good price and we will take that with a small 0.5pt stake as our 2nd bet of the game.

Hakim Ziyech has probably been Chelsea’s best player during the pre-season. He has been a constant threat in the final third and scored two goals in his last game against Tottenham. He is expected to start here and I think with the positions he gets himself into regularly, he can get on the scoresheet again. Alfonso Pedraza was Villarreal’s most booked player last season in La Liga with eight yellow cards to his name. Combining these two selections gives us a juicy double @ 16/1 and we will take that as our longshot for the UEFA Super Cup.

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