Chelsea vs Preston Prediction and Betting Tips: Two punts for FA Cup third round tie on Saturday evening
Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea face off with Championship opposition in the form of Preston North End in the pair's FA Cup third round tie, live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Red Button on Saturday at 5:30pm.
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The Blues look set for a continued topsy-turvy season, recently facing back-to-back defeats to Manchester United and Everton in early December before a further away defeat to Wolves broke up four wins against Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, Luton and an EFL Cup quarter-final victory over Newcastle.
Similarly, PNE cannot seem to gain any sustained traction in the second tier, winning 10 of their 26 fixtures and producing no clear picture for the season as 14th place currently means they're only five points away from the top six but just 10 points safe from the final relegation spot.
Chelsea vs Preston Tips
Although Ryan Lowe has struggled to collate a series of positive results this season with 11 losses from 26 matches, PNE have shown they can be competitive against strong opposition, drawing with Southampton and beating Leeds just three games ago on Boxing Day. There have been some heavy defeats to factor into their results, however, those have typically come against form teams, with two appearing in the opening six weeks of the campaign.
This bet would have only failed on four occasions from 26 in the Championship and though there is a Premier League opponent to now consider, Chelsea haven't exactly inspired enough under Mauricio Pochettino to have us believe they'll blow the visitors out of the water on Saturday. The Blues have struggled massively for form like their Championship counterparts and despite doing the business in cup competitions so far, none of their four victories have cleared this line, even having faced AFC Wimbledon and Blackburn Rovers in half of those matches. Rotation is also likely inbound with the first of two important EFL Cup semi-finals looming against Middlesbrough just a matter of days after this contest.
For a quick explanation of this selection, if Chelsea win by two goals then your stake will be returned. If they win by one goal, draw or Preston pull off an upset then the bet is a success. A win by three or more goals for the hosts is the outcome which kills this punt.
For our second bet we're taking on Chelsea to receive two or more cards at a shade over evens. Pochettino has been unable to control his undisciplined team, who among their struggles, have amassed 61 yellow cards - level with 20th placed Sheffield United at the top of the standings for this metric!
In addition, they've also received three reds in the opening half of the season, with two thirds of those coming within games hosted at Stamford Bridge. It seems no matter the opposition, Chelsea carry a recklessness in their approach, likely born out of frustration with their unexpected season performance. 17 of their 20 league outings have produced 2+ bookings for Saturday's home team, with a further EFL Cup game ticking this box when Chelsea gained four yellows against Newcastle.
With Premier League fouls leader Conor Gallagher and form seekers like Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson expected to feature, we like the proposition of this bet landing for a fifth consecutive time when Chelsea have enormous pressure on them to deliver convincingly against lower league opposition.
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