Huddersfield Town welcome Chelsea to The John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday night in what looks like a must win game for Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side. Chelsea missed the chance to close the gap on the two Manchester clubs above them on Saturday and Conte knows his side can’t afford another defeat. This one promises to be an interesting game between a Huddersfield Town side who are solid at home, having lost just two of their eight matches at home, against a Chelsea side with the second best away record in the league.
Premier League – The John Smith’s Stadium – Tuesday 12th December 2017 – 20:00 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 17/5 at Coral |
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Huddersfield
FC ChelseaHuddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town ended a run of four consecutive defeats on Saturday with a comfortable 2-0 win against fellow Premier League new boys Brighton & Hove Albion. Steve Mounie scored both goals for The Terriers after earning a recall and you would expect David Wagner to stick with him against Chelsea on Tuesday. Wagner will have looked at the way West Ham United approached their game against Chelsea and will be confident of causing Conte’s side problems.
Chelsea
Chelsea were extremely poor against West Ham United on Saturday lunchtime, going down to a 1-0 defeat. Chelsea were second best all over the pitch and going forward Alvaro Morata and Eden Hazard were disappointing. Antonio Conte may choose to freshen his side up for Tuesday’s match after complaining of tiredness following a busy week of Premier League and Champions League football. The likes of Willian, Pedro, Victor Moses and Danny Drinkwater will all be pushing for starts against Huddersfield Town. David Luiz remains side-lined through injury, but other than that Conte has a fully fit first team squad to pick from.
Talking Points
1. 14 of Huddersfield’s 18 points this season have come at home and they have made The John Smith’s Stadium something of a fortress.
2. Chelsea have already lost to Crystal Palace and West Ham United away from home this season and Antonio Conte knows that he cannot afford another slip up against a weaker side.
3. Alvaro Morata has 9 goals and 4 assists this season, but following a poor performance on Saturday, Conte needs his main striker to step up against Huddersfield.
Prediction
Chelsea were pretty terrible against West Ham United on Saturday and I think we’ll see a big reaction from them on Tuesday night. Conte has complained of tiredness amongst his players and they did look very heavy legged in that game, so I’d expect him to ring the changes for this one. Huddersfield Town have been very decent at home this season, but I think Chelsea will just have too much going forwards for them on Tuesday night.
Betting Tips
Chelsea start this game as 2/5 favourites, whilst a home win for Huddersfield is priced up 9/1, with the draw available at 17/5. I can’t see there being too many goals in this game, so under 2.5 goals at Evens looks like an interesting bet to me. You’d fancy Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata to both turn in much improved performances in this game after being poor against West Ham United and they could both be worth a look at in terms of goal scorers. I fancy Chelsea to win this game to nil though and Chelsea to win and BTTS (NO) at 21/20 looks like the best bet at the moment for me.
Chelsea to win and BTTS (NO) – 21/20 (Ladbrokes)