The English Premier League season comes to a close this weekend with every club in action Sunday. Chelsea looks to ensure a third-place finish when it visits Leicester City, which currently sits ninth in the table. The Blues are slight road soccer betting favorites.
Leicester City vs Chelsea English Premier League Odds & Expert Pick
.@FuchsOfficial 🤜🤛 @BenChilwell#FuchsSigns pic.twitter.com/ew38hIHz5R
— Leicester City (@LCFC) 10 de mayo de 2019
- When: Sunday, 10 AM ET
- Where: King Power Stadium, Leicester
- TV: CNBC
- English Premier League Odds: Chelsea +141 / Leicester City +168 / Draw +239 (Total 2.5)
Season Series
The clubs have met 25 times overall and Chelsea has 14 wins with Leicester City five and six draws.
They played this year back on Dec. 22 and Leicester prevailed 1-0 on the road. Chelsea dominated the opening 45 minutes and nearly went in front when Eden Hazard broke away from Harry Maguire, but his shot hit the crossbar.
The lone goal game in the 51st minute from Jamie Vardy. An excellent turn and pass from James Maddison found the striker and he finished beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga. It was Leicester’s first win at Chelsea in 18 years. Kasper Schmeichel was in magnificent form in goal for the Foxes. It was the Blues’ first loss at Stamford Bridge under Maurizio Sarri.
Why Bet on Leicester City?
Leicester City remains ninth in the Premier League table, two points behind eighth-placed Everton and one point ahead of Watford, who occupy 10th position. A point from their final game of the season will all but guarantee a top-half finish.
Youri Tielemans wants to end his Leicester City career in style.
The 22-year-old Belgian International, on loan from Monaco, is set to play the last match of his loan Sunday. He is eager to end the season with a win against Maurizio Sarri’s side.
“We have one game left at home in front of our fans and we have to make the best out of it,” he said. “I think it’s really great if we can win the last game at home, so yes, we’ll see on Sunday. We will give our all as we did in the last few games.”
This will also be it for the Foxes for Danny Simpson and Shinji Okazaki. Both Simpson and Okazaki played key roles in the 2015/16 title win. In total, Simpson has made 131 appearances for the Foxes while Okazaki has appeared 135 times, scoring 19 crucial goals.
Out of contract this summer, Simpson will leave the King Power Stadium with no new deal forthcoming. Simpson established himself as a rock-solid presence at right-back, but the arrival of Ricardo Pereira saw him drop down the pecking order.
Okazaki’s tireless running and dynamism helped link defense and attack for City, who relied heavily on the Japanese international in perhaps one of the most important and underrated roles carried out in that title-winning side.
Leicester City comes off a 1-0 loss to powerhouse Manchester City on Monday. The Foxes held tight but ultimately conceded in the 70th minute as Vincent Kompany’s shot from distance proved to be the perfect hit, soaring into the top corner over the outstretched Kasper Schmeichel. After scoring nine goals in their previous four matches, Leicester could only manage two shots on target at the Etihad.
Expected Line-up
- 1-K. Schmeichel
- 6-J. Evans
- 15-H. Maguire
- 14-Ricardo Pereira
- 3-B. Chilwell
- 11-M. Albrighton
- 21-Y. Tielemans
- 25-W. Ndidi
- 10-J. Maddison
- 38-H. Choudhury
- 9-J. Vardy
Why Bet on Chelsea?
Chelsea last played in the Premier League last Sunday and routed Watford 3-0 to officially secure their place in Champions League next season. Chelsea struggled to open the game but Watford couldn’t make their own early chances count. In the 10th minute N’Golo Kante went off with a suspected hamstring strain and was replaced with Ruben Loftus-Cheek at which point, the tide started to turn for the Blues.
Eden Hazard worked a ball to Ruben Loftus-Cheek to break the deadlock in the 48th minute. From there, it was all Chelsea. Hazard set up David Luiz in the 51st to become the first Chelsea player involved in 30+ goals in a season since Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. Gonzalo Higuain would deliver the final nail in the coffin assisted by Pedro in the 75th minute.
Maurizio Sarri is unlikely to risk Kante in this match in the hope of ensuring the midfielder is fit for the Europa League Cup final should Chelsea progress as is likely. Chelsea faced Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday. Sarri admitted he “made a mistake” by playing Kante vs. Watford following his recent league and European exertions.
“The problem is with his hamstring. But I think I made a mistake,” Sarri said after Sunday’s win. “Probably Sunday he had to rest. Sometimes it’s very difficult to bench a player so important, like Hazard, like Kante, but you have to do it. Otherwise, you risk, and I have to say I made a mistake. I think it’s very difficult to recover him for the next two matches. We want to play the final, so he’s lucky, and we have to try to recover him for the final in case.”
Chelsea is the first English side to win 11 major European games in a single season. Chelsea has reached 14 European semi-finals since April 1966 – seven in the Champions League, four the Cup Winners’ Cup, two in the Europa League and one in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Sarri has said he wants to stay at Chelsea next season despite Roma’s reported interest in appointing him this summer. Reports in Italy and England this week claimed that Roma is interested in hiring Sarri to replace Claudio Ranieri as manager.
Hazard’s 16 Premier League goals this year are his joint-best effort in a Chelsea shirt, the same as he managed in our 2016/17 title-winning season. He has also registered 15 assists, the most in the division and the highest figure of his Blues career. No Premier League player has been involved in more goals than him this season.
Expected Line-up
- 1-Kepa
- 30-David Luiz
- 28-Azpilicueta
- 3-Marcos Alonso
- 27-A. Christensen
- 17-M. Kovačić
- 5-Jorginho
- 7-N. Kanté
- 9-G. Higuaín
- 10-E. Hazard
- 11-Pedro
Expert Final Score Prediction for Leicester City vs Chelsea
Leicester City 1 – Chelsea 1
