Sports Blog 29/04/2015: Match Preview – Leicester vs Chelsea, Wednesday 29th April 2015

After Hull likely ended Liverpool’s push for a top four finish last night, and helped themselves away from the relegation battle in the process, Leicester will be hoping to take a similar scalp from champions-elect Chelsea tonight at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1.

Leicester are undergoing somewhat of a well-timed revolution. Before April Leicester had won 6 games in all competitions, 4 of which were in the Premier League; now, Leicester are undefeated all month after taking their winning streak to 4 in an important 1-0 win over Burnley at the weekend. Combine this with victories against West Ham, West Brom and Swansea, and the Foxes have lifted themselves from bottom of the league to 17th with 31 points.



This leaves Leicester on a Relegation Index spread of 1-3, equal to Hull and Aston Villa in 15th and 16th with 34 and 32 points respectively, with Leicester using up their game in hand tonight. Sunderland are below Leicester in 18th place on 30 points with a Relegation Index spread of 12-15 (where the 3 bottom sides get 50, 25 and 10 points respectively) but crucially also have a game in hand.

Including tonight’s game, Leicester have 4 of their final 5 fixtures at home; Chelsea, Newcastle and Southampton might be tough (well Newcastle not so much), but it will be their final two games, away at 18th place Sunderland and home against 19th place QPR that will be key if Leicester want to complete their last minute Houdini act. In order to aid their escape tonight, Nigel Pearson will be looking to Leonardo Ulloa and Andrej Kramaric, both at 15/2 fixed odds to score first, alongside David Nugent and Chris Wood, both at 9/1 to score first.



However, for all the number crunching, Leicester face an unenviable task in hosting Jose Mourinho’s champions-elect. Wins against United and a draw against Arsenal were more than enough to maintain their iron grip on 1st place despite criticisms over Mourinho’s war of attrition playing style, reflected in the fact that in 8 of their past 10 domestic games there has been less than 2.5 goals, leading Spreadex to offer a Total Goals spread of 2.65-2.85. Chelsea now only need 6 points from their final 5 matches; this means wins tonight and Saturday will see the Blues crowned 2014/15 champions.

Chelsea could be missing Costa (who remains favourite to score first at 4/1) and Oscar tonight through injury, with Loic Remy definitely absent. However, with recently anointed PFA Player of the Year Eden Hazard at 5/1 to score first alongside Didier Drogba, Chelsea are unlikely to be wanting for quality when they travel to the King Power Stadium. Unsurprisingly this leaves the Blues with the advantage, backed by Spreadex traders and clients alike at a Chelsea/Leicester (h) Goal Supremacy sports spread betting quote of 0.7-0.8.