EPL Betting – Reds, Blues Playing for Pride
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Chelsea (+250) at Liverpool (+102), Draw (+254)
After disappointing Premier League seasons for both clubs, there isn’t much to play for other than pride when Liverpool (16-10-10, 58 pts) host Chelsea (12-12-12, 48 pts) at Anfield Road today (3:00 PM Eastern) in the second-last fixture of the season for each team.
Liverpool and Chelsea are 8th and 9th in the EPL standings, respectively, but are separated by ten points. The Reds actually still have a chance to get into the Europa League next season. If Manchester United beats beats Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final next week, the sixth-placed EPL team will automatically qualify for next year’s Europa League.
Right now, Liverpool trail sixth-placed Southampton by just two points and have a game in hand. They’ll also need to vault seventh-place West Ham, however, who are one point up on the Reds and also have two matches left to play. After hosting Chelsea, the Reds will visit West Brom in their season finale.
(Of course, Liverpool can make their qualification to the 2016-17 Europa League a moot point by beating Sevilla in this year’s tournament final (May 18) and gaining entry into the 2016-17 Champions League.)
Unlike Liverpool, who still have three important matches left on the season, Chelsea just wants this nightmare over once and for all. Nothing the Blues planned for the 2015-16 campaign went according to script. The group is already looking ahead and planning for next year. Several players, however, need to show new coach Antonio Conte that they have what it takes to be on a championship-caliber club. The last two matches of the year will see many of the Blues auditioning for their own jobs.
Chelsea haven’t beaten Liverpool in their last four 90-minute matches, and they already lost to to the Reds at home this year, 3-1. With Liverpool still motivated and Chelsea playing out the string, the Reds are the only team to back today.
Pick: Liverpool (+102).Â
(Photo Credit: Ben Sutherland (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/].)
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.
