I TIPPED Chelsea to win the Premier League – and saw nothing on the opening weekend to put me off.
My only concern about backing the Blues for the title was a price of 2-1 but that's well gone now after punters were impressed by their Turf Moor display.
Sure, the Blues had an easy game on paper at promoted Burnley but the way Jose Mourinho’s side recovered from the loss of Scott Arfield’s opener to blow away the Clarets was worrying to their rivals – and then the visitors simply took their foor off the gas and shut up shop as the Portuguese boss loves doing.
New boy Diego Costa got the goal that will settle him down and World Cup winner Andre Schurrle was also on target in the 3-1 romp. The fixture list has been kind to the Blues and next up today it’s a home win against Championship winners Leicester who started with a decent 2-2 draw at home to Everton.
A trip to Stamford Bridge is much tougher and remember Mourinho has only lost one home league game in two spells at Chelsea.
Take the Blues on accumulators to win at a best 2-9 at Paddy Power or go riskier with Chelsea -1 at 4-6 with Skybet.
Consider Schurrle at 7-1 with Paddy Power and Ladbrokes to score first. The German has a fine record with 10 goals in 32 starts.
If you prefer Costa the Spaniard is 10-3 at bet365 and McBookie to net first and 4-5 with bet365 to score at any time.
Elsewhere I like the look of Swansea at home to Burnley. Fears were expressed for the Swans after losing several key players but Garry Monk’s men looked good in beating Man Utd.
The result will have given them great confidence and should beat Burnley although 4-6 (general) is a tad short. Gylfi Sigurdsson has returned after a failed spell at Spurs and celebrated with the winner last week. He is 3-1 at Betfred to repeat the feat and score at any time.
Burnley will probably be quite open and attacking and it should lead to plenty of goals and opportunites on the overs markets.
Southampton were another side tipped for trouble after flogging a host of stars but again Ronald Koeman’s new-look side were decent as they crashed 2-1 at Liverpool.
Star man was Dusan Tadic and he is 7-1 with McBookie and others to break the deadlock. I fancy the Saints to beat West Brom at 10-11 with William Hill.
The early TV game is Aston Villa v Newcastle and both teams performed well last weekend. Villa picked up a fine win at Stoke while new-look Newcastle were unlucky not to hold Man City.
Villa won just six times at home last season but look more solid draw would surprise no one at a best 23-10 with William Hill.
Today's other 3pm kick-off is a tricky win between Crystal Palace and West Ham. It's been a traumatic week for Palace who lost sporting director Ian Moody following on from boss Tony Pulis's departure. Moody went and Malky Mackay was denied the manager's job after it was revealed the pair had shared unsavoury texts while at Cardiff.
How Palace react at home to West Ham is anyone's guess and I'm leaving it alone.
The later TV game could be a cracker between Everton and Arsenal. The Toffees won the fixture last season and will fancy their chances of a repeat and much will depend on whether the Gunners have an eye on their Champions League return with Besiktas.
Both to score again could be the call and I'm having a little dabble on Romelu Lukaku to score first at 7-1 with McBookie.
I've mentioned a few scorers so let's go for a first-scorers Yankee (or anytime if prefer) for a small unit stake. The fourfold pays massively and a double would bring up a good profit.
In the Football League sides I like include Middlesbrough at home to Sheffield Wednesday, Watford at home to Rotherham, Preston at home to Oldham, Sheffield Utd at home to Crawley and Wimbledon at home to Hartlepool.
Aways are tougher to find but I've pinpointed Shrewsbury at Northampton and Portsmouth at Oxford as the best bets.
1st scorer Yankee
Schurrle (Chelsea)
Tadic (Southampton)
Siguirdsson (Swansea)
Lukaku (Everton)
Yankee (11 bets)
Fourfold pays 3779-1
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
Chelsea a mere 11/8 for the title with bet365 now. The 2/1 long gone as you say, MrF.
Be interesting if ballotelli is available to play at city on Monday
spicy!!!!!
Soton and Swansea double for me
Balotelli hasn’t completed the deal for international clearance on time. Which is 12 noon on the Friday before . He won’t make the city game
Thanks Danny
pity though would have been great if he was
Id check the Chelsea line up before doing Schurrle first goal,half of his appearances last season were from the bench.If he does start and you fancy him to score might be worth backing him to get another as he scored two doubles and two hat-tricks last season.Hes 12-1 to score two or more with Ladbrokes.66-1 for a hat-trick.
Chelsea title chances look overly reliant on Costas goals this season.What happens if he gets injured or suspended? Not my sort of bet but Man City at 5/2 with Coral looks decent value on the back of one good Chelsea performance.
tonytanaka, all the team news I read said Schurrle would start and thankfully he did.
I think Schurrle will get more full starts this season as a world cup winner, last season he was more of a super sub but I do think this will change this season.
I’m also going to add Chelsea ht/ft at 8/13 to make it a treble for me