Champions League Odds – Chelsea vs. Maribor

Chelsea (-332) vs. Maribor (+1100) (Draw +500)

Chelsea will try to continue its unbeaten streak (which includes both the Champions League and English Premier League) next Wednesday, October 5, when they visit the NK Maribor at the Ljudski vrt Stadium in Slovenia. The game is the fourth fixture for both teams in the Champions League and kickoff is scheduled for 2:45 p.m Eastern.

On paper, Chelsea is the much stronger side and, unsurprisingly, the Blues are currently a big favorite, despite playing away from home. Jose Mourinho’s squad is currently -332 in the moneyline, while Maribor is at +1100, and the draw is +500.

The sides have only met once previously in what was the most recent Champions League fixture for each team. In that match, Chelsea crushed the Slovenians 6-0 at Stanford Bridge.

Chelsea winger Eden Hazard was relieved after that match.

“It was very important to stay top of the group. Six games are over very quickly and if after three games you are top you can start looking to the future. We are in a good position, and we want to stay in first position. In the Champions League, it is maybe the best [display] since I have been here because we did fantastically offensively, and we scored six great goals” told Hazard to the UEFA website.

On the other side, the Maribor forward Agim Ibraimi was pessimistic.

“Chelsea are among the candidates to win the Champions League. They are dangerous, and they don’t concede many goals. We learned something today, how the Chelsea players play for their team, and hopefully we will be better for it in the next game. We are happy to be taking part in this competition, but teams like Chelsea and Schalke need only one chance to score a goal while in the Slovenian league teams need ten,” said the forward after the match.

As Hazard alluded to, Chelsea is on the top of Group G with seven points (2W, 1D, 0L) and a +7 goal difference. Maribor is third place with two points (0W, 2D, 1L) but a -6 differential thanks to the first match against Chelsea.

Chelsea showed in the first match that they are in a different class than Maribor. Though they have to travel to Slovenia for this game, bet the Blues to win by a two goal difference.

(Photo credit: Ultraslansi (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped from its original.)