Bradford City host Aston Villa and Chelsea entertain Swansea City in the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals.
Chelsea remain the odds on favourites to win the first available piece of silverware this season. They have reached this stage with some solid victories and a dramatic extra time win over Manchester United which showed the guts and determination of the current Chelsea squad.
Aston Villa are surprisingly the second favourites to win the tournament at 11/4. However, this price is to do with their semi-final tie against League Two side Bradford City who knocked out Arsenal to reach this point of the tournament. The competition provides a welcome distraction for Aston Villa’s poor league form.
Bradford City v Aston Villa
The bookies don’t give Bradford a chance in this first leg but then they didn’t give the side any chance of beating Arsenal. The best price you can get on a home win is 4/1 from BetVictor which would mean a valuable advantage heading into the second leg away at Villa Park.
A better way of getting value from backing Aston Villa in a bet is to focus on individuals in the Villa side. Striker Darren Bent is likely to get a rare start in the attack of the team and he looks very good value at 4/1 with Bet365 to score at any time.
If you do think Bradford can steal a win in this game then bear in mind it’s unlikely to be by a massive winning margin. They are 5/1 with Bet365 to steal a win by a single goal but they would take any advantage back to Villa Park considering they are expected to lose this match heavily.
Chelsea v Swansea City
Chelsea will be looking to pile the pressure onto Swansea in the first leg at Stamford Bridge. Rafael Benitez’s side are 4/9 with Coral to get a first leg win and they will be pushing for as big a winning margin as possible considering Swansea is one of the most difficult grounds to go to and try to force a result.
Swansea have played well in this sort of match before and they have a decent record against the bigger sides in the Premier League so far this season. You can get 7/1 from BetVictor or Coral that Swansea will win this match and take an advantage back to the Liberty Stadium.
Demba Ba is likely to start this match for Chelsea and he currently has odds of 4/6 to score at any time with Bet365. You can also get 5/6 from the same bookie on Fernando Torres to score at any time and it could be one of the first chances to see if the two strikers can play together for Chelsea.
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