Chelsea v Manchester City
The 2019 EFL Cup final takes place on Sunday 24 February with a 4.00pm kick-off shown live on Sky Sports. Chelsea and Manchester City do battle over the first available silverware of the season and pundits are expecting a thriller at Wembley Stadium, one for the game’s purists. It’s all set to be big, so check out our best EFL Cup Final betting tips.
These giants of English football have met no less than 159 times in the past on competitive action with the head-to-head stats reading Chelsea 65-55 Man City with 39 draws. Which category will be bumped up one in this final? It could be the draw, but the match will be played to a conclusion to decide the winner, with extra-time and penalties used if needed.
Bookmakers have got into the spirit of things and put in the work to ensure punters can enjoy the show that little bit more with a bet. You can have your say on hundreds of exciting markets, including match winner, to lift the trophy, method of victory, both teams to score, total goals, handicap, first goalscorer, last goalscorer, anytime goalscorer and just about anything else you can imagine. We have a fantastic afternoon of sport ahead and you can profit from the occasion.
Bookmakers have Man City as favourites to leave with the bragging rights, keeping them on course for a domestic clean-sweep. That remains a real possibility of Pep and his crew at the minute, but to have any chance of a treble they must first see off their old rivals from London.
Chelsea a Confident Bunch
Chelsea booked their place in the final with a well-deserved win over neighbours Tottenham across two legs last month. The Blues started with a 1-0 defeat at this venue on 8 January, Harry Kane converting a 26th-minute penalty to give his employers a slender advantage, but it wasn’t to be enough to send them through. Chelsea travelled home that night confident they could overturn the deficit and that’s exactly what they did.
A thrilling 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge followed, thanks to goals from Kante and Hazard, bettering a 50th-minute reply from Llorente. That forced the fixture into extra-time and then penalties, Chelsea held their nerve from the spot to book a quick-fire return to the national stadium courtesy of a 4-2 result.
Victorious manager Maurizio Sarri told members of the press at the end of the match his boys showed a great level of determination to get the result and thought the right team progressed. Opposite number Mauricio Pochettino took it on the chin, saying he’d prefer to lose on penalties than in the game itself. That win means Sarri is only the sixth manager to take Chelsea to the final of the tournament and the fourth to achieve that during his first season at the club.
Bookies Aren’t Impressed
Those stats, and the battling performance against a very good Tottenham side in the semi-finals doesn’t seem to hold much weight with odds compilers who appear more than happy to oppose the capital city side. Backers who disagree and expect The Blues to win their sixth title, first since 2015, can back the upset at an eye-catching 15/4 with Bet365.
That’s market best price so if you do decide to go with the underdogs you should get your cash down with bet365 as many of the competition trade the same bet around the 7/2 mark. Make sure you’re getting the most for your money. Chelsea to lift the trophy, regardless of how they achieve it – 90 minutes, extra-time or penalties – is 9/4, again market best odds coming from bet365.
In what, on paper, looks much closer to a 50/50 shoot-out for the trophy, we’d suggest taking the bigger price and backing Chelsea. That allows you to watch the match knowing you have secured the value. If you’re struggling to separate the pair, Unibet goes 3/1 on the draw and there’s currently no firm as generous as that on the level finish.
Record Breakers
Chelsea rate as the value pick here but there’s no doubt Man City deserve to be favourites and they will attract the lion’s share of pre-match bets. They demolished Burton Albion 10-0 on aggregate in the last round, the bulk of the hard work coming in the first leg when easing to a stunning 9-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium, a result that sent out a real message of intent to their rivals. Pep is serious about winning every competition they are entered in, and it shows.
A 1-0 over Albion in the second leg was closer than many expected, backers flooding cash on the handicap markets, but the damage had been done and we saw a host of unfamiliar faces in the starting line-up for that match. Aguero scored the only goal of the day, netting on 26 minutes before his teammates took their foot off the gas. 10-0 was the biggest semi-final aggregate win in the competition’s history, eclipsing the 9-0 recorded by The Cityzens over West Ham back in 2014.
Odds-on Jolly
Traders have another Man City cup win as odds-on jolly here and punters happy to follow that thinking will have to make do with Unibet’s 3/4, as there’s not a lot better around if taking the game’s shortest-priced team. That’s to win in normal time, you’ll get 8/1 on them doing the business in extra-time, or a cracking 12/1 for the victory on penalties. That’ll appeal to value hunters.
This will be the third meeting of these sides this season, with the previous two ending in a 2-0 win for each side. City won the Community Shield 2-0 back in August, Chelsea claimed a 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League back in December. No in the both teams to score market is quoted at even money with 888sport, the same firm going 3/4 for both Man City and Chelsea to be on target. Interestingly, the rivals haven’t met in League Cup action, at any stage, since Man City’s 1-0 win back in 1993, David White the scorer.