February 20, 2011

Champions League Betting: FC Copenhagen v Chelsea

Champions League RSS / Tobias Gourlay / 20 February 2011 / Leave a Comment

Head-scratching: Fernando Torres does not yet know what he is supposed to be doing at Chelsea

Head-scratching: Fernando Torres does not yet know what he is supposed to be doing at Chelsea

"The Danish champions are unbeaten in the six Champions League home games they have played at the Parken stadium"

There might be trouble ahead for Carlo Ancelotti's off-colour Blues, says Tobias Gourlay.

Chelsea went out of the FA Cup at the weekend. They've given up on the Premier League already, which means the Champions League is their last hope of winning anything this season.

The Blues lost to Internazionale at this stage a year ago, but have made the semi-finals in five of the past seven seasons. They are strong favourites to overcome FC Copenhagen, for whom this is a first-ever Champions League last-16 tie.

The winter break in Denmark means this is Copenhagen's first competitive match since winning at home to Panathinaikos in early December.

Match Odds

The Danish champions are unbeaten in the six Champions League home games they have played at the Parken stadium, beating Celtic and Manchester United in 2006 and holding Barcelona to a draw this season. They impressed in the Camp Nou too,

Chelsea's results have not matched their owner's ambitions recently. Hence the purchase of Fernando Torres. The Spaniard has not yet settled into Carlo Ancelotti's 4-3-3 and it is hard to see how space might be found for all of him, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.

Until Ancelotti works out what to do, the West Londoners are likely to be overrated by the market. And with Copenhagen's strong home record too, they are a lay at [1.8] for this match.

Under / Over

Stale Solbakken usually plays a 4-4-2, with old-fashioned wingers and a pair of strikers, Cesar Santin and Dame Ndoye, who both have excellent domestic scoring records. Solbakken imposes defensive responsibilities on all of his players, however, and two of their three group-stage home games stayed Under 2.5 Goals.

With Frank Lampard injured and Drogba diminished by malaria, Chelsea's goalscoring has been patchy this season. They have scored four times in two of their last four Premier League away games and not at all in the other two. Under 2.5 Goals is the favourite for this match ([1.77]).

Both Teams to Score?

Both teams have scored in four of the last five knockout-stage first legs Chelsea have played. The exception was that (un)memorable game at the Camp Nou a couple of years ago, when Guus Hiddink parked the bus. Ancelotti is not allowed to do the same against a team with a much smaller reputation.

Best Bet: Lay Chelsea at [1.8] to beat FC Copenhagen
Recommended Bet: Back Both Teams to Score at [2.1]

You can now follow Tobias on Twitter: @tobiasgourlay

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