Chelsea vs Cardiff

BPL 2018-19 – Chelsea vs Cardiff Match Preview

Chelsea will look to continue their perfect start to the season as they host the relegation threatened Cardiff at Stamford Bridge! Many see a dominant Chelsea win and so do we so let’s get into some key fatcs, team news and predictions.

Key Facts

Chelsea so far hold a 100% winning record and are 2nd in the Premier League

Chelsea are also the 2nd highest scoring team in the Premier League with 10 goals only behind Man City and it’s only because City put 6 past Huddersfield. Chelsea have scored 2+ in every game.

Pedro is Chelsea’s current top scorer with 3.

Eden Hazard is playing some unbelievable football right now. He’s scored or assisted in every game this season for club and country. Scored 2 assisted 2 in the first 4 league games and scored 2 assisted 1 for Belgium during the international break.

The last time that these clubs met in the league, Chelsea won both ties. 4-1 at home and 1-2 at Cardiff in 2013-14 season.

Cardiff are yet to win a game this season. They have 2 draws and 2 losses.

Cardiff have only managed to score their first goals of the season in the last matchday against Arsenal. They went scoreless in 3 of the 4 games so far.

Cardiff have been pretty competitive however, they’ve only lost one game by more than 1 goal and were also really close to snatching a point against Arsenal. However home advantage may have had to do something with that against Arsenal.

Team News

Chelsea: Well coming out of the international break, luckily for Chelsea their key players avoided any injuries and the team is fully healthy and ready to go. We don’t expect many changes to the starting line-up. The only change that we could see here from the last game is Pedro slotting back in for Willian after scoring against Bournemouth while Willian was sub-par again. Morata will most likely start as Giroud is better as a super sub as shown against Bournemouth. Otherwise we don’t expect any other changes for Chelsea. We expect Chelsea to dominate possession in 60s-70s and create a ton of chances here.

Cardiff: Not much to report from Cardiff either. Mendez-Laing is still out with a long term injury meanwhile Aron Gunnarsson and Josh Murphy could be back in the team after the international break. We shouldn’t expect Cardiff to make many changes from the last game as they put in a very impressive performance against Arsenal where they got unlucky to lose. Neil Warnock said that his team will try to have a go but realistically we don’t see them creating many chances. This seems to be a game where Cardiff will just have to sulk up the pressure and hope they can create something on the counter attack or set pieces. This shapes up to be a very long day for Cardiff and they simply cannot afford to lose focus at any time of the game against this Chelsea side.

Betting Tips and Predictions

We’re looking at a pretty dominant Chelsea win here. Chelsea win is only priced at 1.18 which is no value therefore we’re looking at the handicaps. Chelsea’s -2 AH is a good pick from this match at 1.95 (odds based on TonyBet). It’s highly unlikely that Cardiff will be able to deal with Chelsea’s class especially playing at Stamford Bridge and we don’t see nothing less than a 2 goal Chelsea win. If they win by 2 your money is back so there isn’t much risk. With the way Hazard looks, Pedro looks and the midfield dominates games this will go one way traffic. Cardiff have been competitive but then again they played 10 men Newcastle, 10 men Huddersfield and had a home game against Arsenal and at home these type of teams are naturally much better. The one game where they played 11x11 away from home against Bournemouth they got put away 2-0 and Chelsea are a whole new level to Bournemouth. If Cardiff were at home then yes we’d give them a chance but at Stamford Bridge they will get stomped. Chelsea to win to nil at 1.80 is also worth the look given Cardiff’s struggles to score goals and the fact that Chelsea are starting to get it right defensively. Hazard and/or Pedro to score anytime are our final picks. Chelsea to win 3-0 and Hazard Pedro Alonso to get on the scoresheet is our prediction.

Match Odds (TonyBet)

Chelsea Win – 1.18

Draw – 7.55

Cardiff Win – 19.75

KICK OFF – 15th September 2018 – 3pm UK Time