EPL Betting – Leicester Set for Victory Lap at Chelsea
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Leicester City (+191) at Chelsea (+133), Draw (+235)
Leicester City (23-11-3, 80 pts) have officially pulled off the seemingly impossible, winning the English Premier League as 5000/1 longshots. The Foxes will close their dream season against arguably the most disappointing team in the EPL, Chelsea (12-13-12, 49 pts), as both look to set the tone for next year. The last game of the season will kick off this Sunday at Stamford Bridge in London (10:00 AM Eastern).
Leicester City dominated the EPL almost from start to finish. A win at Stamford Bridge, one of the most unfriendly stadiums in all of Europe, would be a fitting exclamation point to the year. A win would also secure the team a club-record 83 points after 38 games.
Leicester’s road prowess is what separated them from the pack this year. They went 11-5-2 away from home, with their only losses coming at Arsenal and Liverpool. They surrendered less than a goal per game on the road (17 in 18 matches so far) while notching 32 tallies of their own.
Chelsea fans are in a decidedly different mood. The Blues, who entered the year as co-favorites along with Man City, stumbled early and never found their footing. They’ll finish the year either ninth or tenth in the table, and that disappointing performance has cost manager Guus Hiddink his job.
Antonio Conte will take over next year and the roster figures to see some drastic changes in the offseason. Conte is expected to replace anyone and everyone who doesn’t fit into his system.
Whoever suits up in Blue next year will have to make sure the team is better at protecting home turf. A 5-8-5 home record was a big part of Chelsea’s middle-of-the-pack finish.
Leicester are the better team here, but they no longer need to gain points and a win at Stamford Bridge is not an easy thing to get, even though Chelsea have surrendered their share of points at home. The draw looks like the safer pick in this somewhat meaningless game.
Pick: Draw (+235).
(Photo Credit: Kajsh (Own work) CC BY-SA 4.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
