Sunderland v Chelsea: Back superior Blues to carry on their dominance

Jose Mourinho's side are the best in the division by a distance

Luke Moore previews Chelsea's visit to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland and can't see any other outcome than an away win for Jose Mourinho's men...

Sunderland v Chelsea
Saturday 29th November 2014, 17:30
Live on Sky Sports 1

Sunderland

Although the main thing Sunderland are known for this season is the 8-0 drubbing at the hands of an impressive Southampton last month, they've actually bounced back reasonably well since and are unbeaten in their last three games, including a now-decent-looking 1-3 win at Crystal Palace.

Gus Poyet knows it's still going to be a battle to maintain their Premier League status this season however, and domestic games don't come any harder than a visit of Chelsea. The Black Cats' record against the Stamford Bridge is absolutely woeful - they've lost their last nine home games against them in a row.

If Poyet's side are to pull off a frankly miraculous result on Saturday teatime, then they may need to do it without Emmanuele Giaccherini who is still struggling to recover from an ankle injury.

Chelsea

Chelsea are by far the best team in the Premier League at the moment, and it's hard to see any other side stopping them between now and May. Put simply, they'll be domestic champions this season. No-one else has the tools or consistency to stand in their way.

Jose Mourinho's team is an iron fist in a velvet glove, a perfect combination of technical dexterity, physical power and consistently correct decision making. They are tough to stop in 90 minutes, let alone beat. The only danger, and one that Mourinho seems to continue to guard against, is that they somehow beat themselves.

What's more, the Blues have a clean bill of health and will likely line up with a full-strength side on Saturday evening.

Match Odds

Odds for this market are pretty much as you'd expect - Chelsea are short-priced favourites (1.422/5) and Sunderland are big outsiders, way out at 10.09/1. I've already mentioned the home side's utterly appalling record against Chelsea at the Stadium of Light and so for that reason their big price is completely justified. 

Although I think this will be an away win, looking at some of Chelsea's recent results they've occasionally done just enough to get by, and so I think I'll leave this market alone. Of course, if the Blues are motivated to break as many records as they can on their way to the title, there's a chance Sunderland could be steam-rollered, but there's not huge value anyway, 1.422/5 isn't really getting me excited.

If you fancy The Draw by the way, that's currently trading at 5.04/1.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

I think this market is also dependent on Chelsea's attitude going into the game. They rode roughshod all over Schalke midweek, and it's not as though I can see Sunderland keeping them out for very long; Opta tell us that there have been 12 goals in the opening 20 minutes in the last ten games between these sides and so we should expect goals.

Sunderland average about a goal a game anyway, and John Terry and his merry men have only kept one clean sheet in their last give league games. At 1.855/6, Overs seems a reasonably safe call. I'll go with it.

If you want to take me on, Unders is currently priced up at 2.1211/10.

Half Time/Full Time

We've already established that there tends to be early goals in this game, and so we have a trend to tap into. If we ally that with the fact that Chelsea are the best team in the league and are scoring hatfuls of goals, it makes sense to back Chelsea/Chelsea in this market.

That should be available at around 2.245/4ish between now and kick off, so get on it and back the away side to be leading at the break and the final whistle.

Recommended Bets
Back Over 2.5 Goals at 1.855/6
Back Chelsea/Chelsea in the Half Time/Full Time market 2.245/4 or better

Luke Moore 2014-15 Premier League P/L

Staked: 29pts
Returned: 29.69pts
P/L: +0.69pts

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