Southampton vs. Chelsea and Pick to Win
Date:Sunday, October 30th, 2016
Where: English Premier League St. Marys Stadium, Southampton, UK
by Keith, Professional Soccer/Football Handicapper, Predictem
Match Odds: Southampton 40/17, Chelsea 11/8, Draw 5/2
Moneyline:Southampton +235, Chelsea +133, Draw +250
Over/Under Best Market: OVER 2.5 30/29 (+101)
For Southampton, the Saints have emerged as a perennial middling team that finds itself vying for Europa contention on a regular basis. Chelsea is more accustomed to playing for hardware of greater consequence and prestige and seemingly the Blues are back in the driver seat. On Sunday, the Blues of London will head to the coast to take on the Saints of Southampton in a English Premier League fixture that will be instrumental for the campaigns of both clubs. Chelsea enters off a huge win against Manchester United which is very much capable of fostering an overreaction. For Southampton, the Saints come in off an impressive road draw at league leader Manchester City.
Southampton has been in good form as of late, as they own just one loss in their previous five fixtures. The Saints own draws against the defending English Premier League champion Leicester City and the current table topper Manchester City. Southampton is known as a pest and they continue to build their program to a level of relevance where they cannot be construed as a walk in the park anymore. The Saints are a possession football team that loves to distribute and matches up perfectly to the fast and paced attack of Chelsea. A contest of this caliber may see many counter attacks which in turn results in proliferation of scoring opportunities.
After a very disparaging 2015-16 campaign, the Blues are back on the right foot. Currently, Chelsea sits in a favorable position in the English Premier League table with 19 points, just one point behind current table-topper Manchester City, the team that Southampton drew last Saturday at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. The Blues are undoubtedly flying high after they shelled visiting Manchester United 4-0 at home, lighting up their former manager Jose Mourinho in the process at Stamford Bridge, last Saturday. Chelsea has shown eons of improvement after they were in a calamitous state of affairs last year were attrition was the theme of the Blues. As a direct result of a change at the top, Chelsea was catapulted out of a position where they sat at fifteenth at one point within the English Premier League table. Now, the Blues are contending for EPL and European accolades, an attribute commonly associated with Chelsea football clubs. The Blues will have to play this one away from Stamford Bridge, where they are known for a true home pitch advantage that has since been re-established after serving up a loss to Manchester United in dominant fashion.
The stock in both teams is high at this present moment, but the buzz is surrounding Chelsea after they absolutely polished Manchester United at home. The Blues have outscored opponents 9-0 in their last fixtures and they are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. With this being said, Chelsea will likely get a lot of heat for their dominance and the Southampton result against Manchester City may not even be taken in to consideration because it was that impressive. Nevertheless, this one is away from London and Chelsea is all the more prone for a let-down as Southampton has upset many English Premier League giants at St. Marys over many years past. A popular dissenting opinion is the Saints pulling off the upset and seemingly the draw is the least likely option of three to take shape. Nevertheless we will go ahead and target that draw be that both teams will look to continue their success and not suffer a loss. Both teams know how to score and with the OVER 2.5 once again offering above even odds, we will go ahead and play on that option as it is very much viable. We stand to net 3.51 units if both plays land.
Chelsea Recent Form
W Manchester United 4-0
W – Leicester City 3-0
W Hull City 2-0
L Arsenal 0-3
W Leicester City 4-2
Southampton Recent Form
D Manchester City 1-1
L Milan 0-1
W Burnley 3-1
D Leicester City 0-0
D Hapoel Beer Sheva 0-0
Keith’s Prediction for the Game: Draw 5/2 (+250) and OVER 2.5 30/29 (+101).