Chelsea take on Portuguese giants Benfica in North Carolina on Saturday night in the last-16 of the Club World Cup.
Chelsea began their Club World Cup campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory over LAFC, but they lost their second match against Brazilian side Flamengo 3-1 despite leading at half time.
That meant they required a win against record Tunisian champions Esperance Tunis in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and they subsequently did so.
Goals from Tosin and Liam Delap deep in first-half stoppage time and a late Tyrique George strike sealed a 0-3 victory for The Blues, as well as a couple of winners for our man SlipsTips.
Benfica endured a nightmare start to their Club World Cup campaign, as they were 2-0 down against Boca Juniors inside the opening 27 minutes of their group opener.
However, to their credit, Bruno Lage’s men have been near faultless since, as they rescued a point to draw 2-2 with the Argentinian giants, before putting six unanswered goals past Auckland City in their next group match.
The Eagles required a point against Bayern Munich to secure their last-16 spot, but they went one better and defeated the Bundesliga champions 1-0 to win Group C on an evening our man Kevin landed a couple of winners.
How the bookies view it: Blues favourites to progress
Chelsea have been installed as favourites here, with BoyleSports pricing them up at 20/21 to win inside 90 minutes.
Benfica to win in regulation time is 12/5 with the same firm, whilst it’s 23/10 for the match to go to extra time and potentially penalties.
Head to head: Blues love facing Benfica
Chelsea have won all three previous meetings between the two sides, with The Blues defeating them home and away en route to lifting their maiden Champions League title in 2012, as well as in the Europa League final the year after in 2013, where a Fernando Torres strike and a looping Branislav Ivanovic header made it back-to-back European trophies for the boys from the King’s Road.
Players to watch: Neto to net again?
Pedro Neto has scored the opener in both of Chelsea’s opening two Club World Cup matches. The Portuguese winger will be fresh after being rested in the last match against Esperance Tunis, and he is an appealing 7/2 at BoyleSports to find the net in regulation time in North Carolina.
Vangelis Pavlidis was Benfica’s top scorer last season, firing in 26 goals in the Primeira Liga and the Champions League. The Greek frontman also scored in the 6-0 thrashing of Auckland City in the group stage, and he is 9/4 at BoyleSports to get on the scoresheet inside 90 minutes.
Predicted line-ups:
Bruno Lage will once again be without injured defenders Alexander Bah and Tomas Araujo, as well as midfielder Manu Silva due to injury.
Liam Delap will likely start up front again with Nicolas Jackson still suspended following his red card against Flamengo on MD2, whilst Wesley Fofana will also miss out due to injury.
Benfica: Trubin, Barreiro, Silva, Otamendi, Dahl, Sanches, Aursanes, Di Marria, Prestianni, Akturkoglu, Pavlidis.
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Lavia, Fernandez, Palmer, Neto, Delap
Anything else catch the eye?
This has the makings to be a very watchable encounter on Saturday night, and I like the possibility of goals.
Chelsea have found the back of the net in all three of their group-stage matches, scoring six goals in the process, but looked vulnerable defensively in their 3-1 loss to Flamengo.
Benfica have also scored in all three of their clashes in Group C, finding the back of the net on nine occasions, but conceded twice against Boca Juniors and only shut out Bayern Munich due to the heroics of goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Both Teams to Score is 3/4 at Bet365, whilst Over 2.5 Goals is 19/20 with the same firm, and both appeal in what is hopefully a decent watch.
GambleAware