People may have been questioning Tottenham’s ‘bottle’ after their loss to West Ham, but to be fair it’s never really been their title to win thanks to Chelsea’s stellar season.
The fact that we even got a sniff of a title race is testament to the brilliant run Tottenham were on before last Friday’s failure at the London Stadium. That’s because The Blues looked home-and-dry after embarking on a 13-game winning streak themselves earlier in the season.
Even if Spurs had won, Chelsea would have still held the advantage heading into their final four games of the season anyway. However, now Antonio Conte’s men can get the job done inside a week with wins over Middlesbrough tonight and West Brom away on Friday.
Ahead of the contest later we’ve decided to put together a top trio of punts for a bit of Monday motivation. Let’s talk you through it…
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Eden Hazard to score first – 3/1
By any measure it’s been a memorable season for Belgian superstar Eden Hazard, with 15 Premier League goals to his name – along with five assists – he’s well and truly back to his best.
Middlesbrough – whose defence has been easier than Hillary Clinton’s server to penetrate – will need to have their warning lights on for this trip to Stamford Bridge because Hazard has netted four times in his last three home appearances.
He’s also scored the first goal in two of those three wins (against Man City and Southampton) and is available at a tasty 3/1 to repeat the trick later this evening. Home comforts make a difference you know…
No Middlesbrough goals – 4/6
A loss tonight will confirm Middlesbrough’s relegation back to the Championship after just one season back in the top flight and honestly, they’ve been so boring they deserve to end up back there.
Barring an absolute miracle Boro do seem destined for the drop sooner rather than later and if you were to pinpoint two reasons why they’re in this position, they’d have to be the club’s terrible away form – with only one away win all season – and an utter lack of goals as they boast the lowest total in the Premier League with just 26 scored. We’re looking at you Alvaro Negredo!
Steve Agnew’s men have only found the back of the net in one of their last seven away outings and face a Chelsea side with the third best defence domestically tonight, so don’t expect The Blues net to be bulging later. It’s 4/6 for Middlesbrough to fire another blank and while the price may not be the biggest, it may be the safest place for your money.
Power Price: Chelsea to win 3-0 or 4-0 – 7/2
While rightly praising Chelsea’s defence earlier, we’ve neglected to mention their proficiency in front of goal as Conte’s men are top of the shop when it comes to Premier League strikes – a whopping 72 of them in total.
That spree shows no sign of stopping either, as The Blues have scored three or more goals in four of their last five games.
Middlesbrough’s struggles at both ends of the field have been as well documented as Diane Abbott’s problems with numbers recently and our marketing boffins are offering a tasty Power Price of 7/2 for Chelsea to win 3-0 or 4-0 at the Bridge tonight having previously priced it at 11/4. At the rate Conte’s side are hitting them a black and ‘Blue’ battering for Boro could be inevitable tonight.
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* All prices correct at time of posting.