CHELSEA'S horror season continues with a visit from Leeds United on Saturday and there's a real sense of dead man walking with their beleaguered manager Graham Potter.
It's hard to underestimate just how much of a mess he's made of the job with Chelsea on a run of six games without a win, three defeats in a row and one measly goal in that time. In fact, Chelsea have won just two league games since October.
But their problems lie far deeper than Potter and their ludicrous £300 million splurge in January which has bloated their squad to unworkable levels has actually made them worse.
They currently sit only ten points above the relegation zone and can almost certainly forget European football next season, never mind the Champions League.
Their opponents Leeds United have their own problems to deal with, although you would suspect they weren't too aghast at getting bundled out of the FA Cup in midweek at Fulham.
New manager Javi Gracia guided his team to a hugely important 1-0 weekend home win over fellow strugglers Southampton and they will be targeting something from west London against a Chelsea side who must have an all-time low morale.
How the bookies view it
Despite their troubles, Chelsea are still odds-on favourites here with 4/6 being the best price with SBK.
Leeds United can be backed at 9/2 with bet365 and the draw is 29/10 with William Hill.
Recent head to heads
Chelsea's troubles this season can almost be traced back to what was a shock 3-0 defeat at Elland Road back in August.
However, Leeds haven't won at Stamford Bridge since 1999.
Players to watch
Goals have been a major problem for Chelsea this season and their leading scorer in the Premier League is Kai Havertz with just five goals. The German is 12/5 to score anytime with UniBet.
Wilfried Gnonto has impressed for Leeds this season and the 19-year-old Italian has scored five times for the Yorkshire side. He is 9/2 with bet365 to score anytime.
Anything else catch the eye?
This could be the day that it suddenly all clicks for Potter and his Chelsea team and they show what they are capable of… or it could be yet another dismal, uninspired display with a toxic atmosphere.
Surely there won't be too many punters who throw the mortgage at chunky odds-on prices for this Chelsea team.
They seem to react badly to pressure and Leeds are not an easy side to play – the obvious bet here is more misery for Potter and to back Leeds on the double chance at 27/20 with 10bet.
And with all of Chelsea's last seven games and four of Leeds' coming in at under 2.5 goals, it's hard to see this being a classic. So it's something of a surprise to see unders be almost evens and SBK's 39/40 seems a solid shout.
This English Premier League match between Chelsea and Leeds United will be played on Mar 4, 2023 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Chelsea vs Leeds United prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
