Chelsea and Manchester City will meet in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday morning.
While both clubs will desperately want to add another trophy to their mantle, there are plenty of distractions surrounding both locker rooms.
For Chelsea, it seems like only a matter of time before Xabi Alonso is confirmed as manager, continuing the revolving door at Stamford Bridge.
As for Manchester City, this match could represent the end of an era.
Not only are rumors swirling around Pep Guardiola’s future, but an exodus of players is expected, with John Stones and Bernardo Silva, two bedrocks at the club for the last decade, already confirmed to be leaving at the end of the season.
City would love to send off some club legends with another trophy, while Chelsea would love some hardware to take the bitter taste out of what’s been a miserable Premier League campaign.
No surprise in the betting market. Manchester City is a hefty favorite, sitting at -160 odds to win the match in regulation and -300 to lift the trophy.
Anything can happen in a cup final, but it’s hard to argue that the Sky Blues should be heavy chalk for this encounter.
Not only has City been the much better team throughout the season, but their recent form is not even close.
Chelsea is on a seven-match winless streak in the Premier League, and just halted a six-game losing skid with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool last weekend.
On the whole, Chelsea’s statistical profile is pretty solid, but lately their numbers have gone in the tank, and they clearly look like a team that has lost the plot.
They’ve been particularly messy defensively, conceding at least three goals in four of their last six Premier League contests, including in a 3-0 defeat to City.
City is playing a third high-stakes match in seven days, and you could argue they may have one eye on their last two matches in the title race with Arsenal, but they are still the much better team and should be a motivated group as they try to send off at least two longtime players with a trophy.
Expect the Sky Blues to tear apart Chelsea’s wobbly defense Saturday.
The Play: Man City -1.5 (+188, FanDuel)
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。