Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea Betting Tip & Odds: Chelsea just are not a safe bet at the moment. That really did not ever look like happening at the start of the season, but their collapse in form has been monumental. Now a trip to Wolves looks like an uphill struggle for them. But, back to basics, Chelsea are the better team. They have the world class stars, and have to still start this match as favourite. Wolves are bottom of the league, and there is a big points difference between the two sides. Chelsea are playing without any conviction at the moment, and Wolves are fighting for their Premier League lives. It makes for a fascinating contest. Can the home side unsettle Chelsea enough to steal a win? It is still the most unlikely outcome in the match to be honest, so this makes for an interesting Asian Handicap. Would take Chelsea -1.25 Asian Handicap for a decent price of 6/5 at Paddy Power. It covers a two goal win, and only a half loss of stake if Chelsea win by one goal.
Wolverhampton Wanderers to win: 7/1 at SkyBet
Draw: 10/3 at Totesport
Chelsea to win: 8/15 at Extrabet
EPL Match Preview: How quickly things change in football. No, we are not talking about Chelsea here (not yet anyway), but Wolves. Just a few heady days ago, they were celebrating their best moment of the season, a 1-0 away win at Liverpool. Fast forward the tape a few days, and they are committing football suicide (according to boss Mick McCarthy) against relegation strugglers West Ham. Wolves lost that crucial basement battle by a 2-0 scoreline, leaving the Midlands side firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. You could have asked most punters at the beginning of the season what Wolves’ chances were, and most would have said, safe from relegation. It all started so well, unbeaten in their opening three games, but ever since then it has been downhill. It has been a steep downhill too. In the end Wolves may just be OK, as there are teams above them which are in far worse form than they are. At least Wolves have not forgotten how to win completely, the problem is, that there is not consistency. A win has been followed by a defeat, and so on in that pattern over the last six games. That is why they are struggling, their defence is far too leaky, and their lack of firepower has left then as one of the lowest scoring teams in the Premier League. One thing which Wolves do not do, is hang around for drawn matches. They have just three on the season, and if just a handful of the twelve defeats they have suffered could have been held to parity, they would be so much better off. The relegation battle looks as if it is going to be an extremely tight one this year, with just four points separating bottom places Wolves from Everton up in 13th place.
However, Wolves need another one of those big nights as they go in search of their sixth win of the season. When they went to Stamford Bridge back in October, Wolves weren’t blown off the park as the home side won 2-0. People were expecting a lot worse for them on the day. If ever Mick McCarthy, a much criticised manager, ever needed a tool to motivate his players with, the West Ham result will be it. That was a huge opportunity lost after doing so well in putting on a brave performance at Anfield for their victory. This is also the Wolves side which beat Manchester City at home. The potential is there, it just gets lost under a blanket of mediocrity in the defence most of the time. Wolves have themselves an opportunity, and they will be believing that they do, to take points off Chelsea. This isn’t the Chelsea which has fired 18 goals past Wolves in their five Premier league meetings. No, the London blues are vulnerable at the moment, again shown on Sunday when they were held to a 3-3 draw by the hopelessly out of form Aston Villa. Maybe Wolves would be happy with a gritty and battling draw at Molineux, maybe they will be wanting more than that. Out of the two options though, a draw would be the most realistic outcome for them, as Chelsea are still a tough side to beat.
Carlo Ancelotti must be a highly frustrated man. Playing Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge must have seemed like an easy three points after battling hard to beat the high flying Bolton in their previous match. Aston Villa, who are struggling badly to find a win from anywhere, went to London and gave more than Chelsea had bargained for. The home side had to battle back from being behind 2-1, and looked as if they had done enough to seal a good comeback win when John Terry headed in in the 89th minute. Remarkably though, Aston Villa went right back down the other end and Cieran Clark stole a huge point for Villa in the 90th minute, leaving Chelsea on its knees. Suddenly it looks as if a fourth place finish would be a good result for Chelsea in the Premier League this season. Things just are not going their way. They are now a massive six points adrift of league leaders Manchester United now, and have played a game more than Alex Ferguson’s men. The Chelsea fans need some appeasing, and with the January Transfer window here, will the Blues spend? They don’t seem to be in any hurry to do so, their name not being linked with anyone much, other than centre half David Luiz, and interestingly, according to some, Jay Bothroyd from Cardiff, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. It is not someone who would come in and really challenge for a forward place with Drogba, Kalou and Anelka, even though they aren’t being prolific at the moment.
So it appears that Chelsea’s problems weren’t just all because of Frank Lampard’s absence. They are still lacking that cutting edge, although they did manage to score more than one goal in a league match for the first time in ten games. Despite Ancelotti’s insistence that Chelsea can still win the Premier League, their fans must be thinking a lot differently to that. They must also be thinking “go and spend please!”. Things are coming unravelled at the back a little bit now and without that solidity in place, they are going to continue to struggle. This really should be a match which has three points going to Chelsea without a moment’s hesitation, but now things are a little different. Chelsea have won just one match in their last eight, and have lost away from home four times this season. This should be a formality but it is not. This is now an immensely tricky match for Chelsea to try and navigate, and anything less than a win would really leave the Blues shell shocked. This is why this is such an important and interesting game. There’s a lot at stake at the foot of the table, and a lot at stake near the top of the league also. Chelsea are fragile, the Wolves will be hungry. Incidentally, Chelsea are 16th in the table of current form in the Premier League, while Wolves are above them in 13th place.
Online Bookmaker Promotion: Can Wolves keep Chelsea at bay? If you think so, then Stan James may be worth a look for your online football betting for the Wolves v Chelsea match. They run an ongoing money back special, which gives refunds on any goalscorer market which loses because the match ends in a 0-0 draw. This applies to any match priced up on the great website, and so provides some nice background insurance if the dreaded bore draw raises its ugly head. Stan James welcomes new customers to their service with a £25 free matched bet when opening a new account.
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea Premier League Betting Statistics
Last 5 Head to Head
Chelsea 2, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, Chelsea 2
Chelsea 4, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
Chelsea 5, Wolverhampton Wanderers 2
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, Chelsea 5
Wolverhampton Wanderers have an 40% win percentage at home in the league this season
Chelsea have a 30% win percentage away from home in the league this season
Wolverhampton Wanderers are on a streak of 6 home matches with no draw
Chelsea are on a streak of 5 away matches with no win
Wolverhampton Wanderers have scored 14 goals, and conceded 15 at home
Chelsea have scored 14 and conceded 11 goals in their away matches
Wolverhampton Wanderers average 1.4 goals per match at home this season
Chelsea average 1.4 goals per match away from home this season
Wolverhampton Wanderers have scored the bulk of their goals in the 31-45 and 76-90 minute brackets
Chelsea have scored the majority of their goals in the 76-90 minute bracket
Wolverhampton Wanderers have opened the scoring in 40% of their matches
Chelsea have scored first in 55% of their matches
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2010/11 top scorer: Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher, 4
Chelsea 2010/11 top scorer: Drogba, 9
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2010/11 Season Form: P20 W5 D3 L12 GF20 GA34 Pts 18 (20th)
Chelsea 2010/11 Season Form: P20 W10 D5 L5 GF36 GA18 Pts 35 (5th)
