Chelsea will be hoping that the FA Cup will offer them some respite when they play host to Port Vale on Saturday evening.
The Blues have lost each of their last four matches across all competitions, the most recent of which saw them crash to a 3-0 defeat away at Everton.
As a result, Liam Rosenior finds himself under increasing pressure, despite only taking charge at the turn of the year.
The Blues boss has, however, won each of his three FA Cup ties since taking the reins, and anything other than another victory against Port Vale would come as a massive shock.
Although Jon Brady’s visitors sit at the bottom of the English League One table, the FA Cup has offered a welcome reprieve from their relegation battle.
The Valiants have reached the FA Cup quarter-finals for only the second time in their history and for the first time since 1954, most notably toppling Sunderland 1-0 in the previous round.
How the bookies view it: Blues to cruise to victory
You won’t get rich backing Chelsea to come out on top on Saturday evening, with the hosts trading at a short-priced 1/11 with Coral.
Port Vale are huge 35/1 underdogs with William Hill to pull off a major upset at Stamford Bridge, while the draw inside 90 minutes is also deemed unlikely at 14/1 with bet365.
Head to head: History book dormant
Chelsea hold the edge in a rarely contested head-to-head with Port Vale, winning seven of their 14 clashes. Saturday’s FA Cup tie will mark the pair's first-ever meeting in the competition.
Players to watch: Palmer to produce?
Cole Palmer has yet to feature for Chelsea in this season’s FA Cup, but he could get the nod on Saturday evening. The Blues talisman looks good value for an anytime strike at 10/11 with PaddyPower.
Ben Waine was Port Vale’s hero in the previous round, netting the only goal against Sunderland. The New Zealand international is as big as 15/2 with Paddy Power to notch again on Saturday evening.
Predicted line-ups
As was the case before the international break, Chelsea’s injury list includes Filip Jorgensen, Jamie Gittens, Levi Colwill, Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah, while Benoit Badiashile is a doubt due to illness.
Aside from injured duo Ben Heneghan and George Byers, Port Vale have a clean bill of health.
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Caicedo, Lavia; Palmer, Fernandez, Garnacho; Delap
Port Vale: Gauci; Lawrence, John, Gray, Hall, Headley; Archer, Ojo, Shipley, Sherif; Garrity
Anything else catch the eye?
Chelsea are too short to back at the odds mentioned, so it’s a case of getting creative to keep the hosts onside.
With that in mind, I’ll dip into the Bet Builder market and back the Blues in the Half Time/Full Time market alongside BTTS No, which pays 20/21 with bet365.
Given the aforementioned Cole Palmer’s knack for drawing fouls, the Chelsea ace could also be worth backing to be fouled at least twice at 4/5 with bet365.
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