Sports Blog 22/12/2014: Match Preview – Stoke City vs Chelsea, Monday 22nd December

Jose Mourinho’s boys continue their busy run of fixtures with a Monday night visit to the Britannia Stadium to battle notorious scalpers Stoke City.

After beating Derby in the week to set up a League Cup semi-final against Liverpool, the Blues will face a Stoke team that have been in inconsistent form of late. Having lost 3, won 2 and drawn 1 in their last 6 games, Stoke aren’t in the best shape; however, a 3-2 win at home against Arsenal shows the Potters’ ability to cause upsets, a skill they will be hoping to employ against a dominant Chelsea.

Chelsea are sitting pretty at the top of the league; however, they will need a win tonight to keep Manchester City at bay. With 4 wins (3 on the trot), 1 draw and a recent(ish) loss against Newcastle, the Blues are managing to survive the wear and tear of their punishing Christmas schedule. With that defeat in Newcastle their lone loss in 25 games this season, and having scored 60 goals in all competitions, Mourinho will be confident that his team can get a few against a Stoke side that have conceded 10 goals in their last 5 home games. With this in mind our clients have been fancying the Total Goals spread betting quote of 2.45 to 2.65 Spreadex is offering.



As Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois looks likely to return from injury tonight, Stoke may have a tough time against this in form Chelsea side. However, the Potters managed to beat the Blues at the Britannia Stadium last season, and after beating Arsenal and City earlier in the season, Stoke seem to find their form against the bigger teams.

Unsurprisingly, we have seen a lot of bets on a Chelsea/Stoke (h) Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 0.95-1.15, with our clients unable to look past this freely-scoring Chelsea side. In terms of individual players, Chelsea’s top scorer, Diego Costa with 12 goals, is 7/2 fixed odds betting to score first; Eden Hazard with 9 goals is 5/1, and Didier Drogba with 6 goals is 9/2. For Stoke, their top scorer with 6 goals is Jonathan Walters, 12/1 to score first, as Peter Crouch on 5 goals is 11/1, as is Mame Biram Diouf, on 4 goals.

As our Spreadex clients are showing, it is hard to see beyond the Blues-domination that hasn’t wavered since the season began; however Stoke are a perpetual threat to the bigger sides as they have an uncanny ability to cause upsets. With Chelsea needing to put some space between them and Man City, Stoke will be facing an upward battle to make themselves heard over the sound of Chelsea’s title surge.