Difficult as it is to match a Champions League week in excitement, Saturday has the potential to do it. There are some great matches scheduled for this day, including classic derbies in the German and Italian first divisions. The outcome of these matches could decide the fortunes of teams struggling to stay relevant in the race for the championship.
Chelsea Seek to Add to Southampton’s Misery
Chelsea are riding a five-game winning streak and hope to take advantage of Southampton struggles in 2021. The Blues are a low scoring team but highly effective at defending narrow leads, whereas their opponents tend to concede a lot. Home pitch advantage won’t matter with no fans cheering from the stands, hence the odds of 4/1 on the host. There is decent value in the odds of 7/10 offered by bet365 Sports on Chelsea to extend its winning streak especially with no key players missing.
Liverpool and Everton Meet in the City’s Derby
Liverpool finally returned to their winning ways with a victory over Leipzig midweek. On the domestic front things are going from bad to worse and this is literally the last chance to stay in the race for the trophy. Unless they defeat Everton in the city derby will have no chance to catch up with Manchester City. Having home pitch advantage and a superior head to head record explains the odds of 9/20. If Everton can capitalize on their rivals’ struggles and win, punters will be paid at 6/1 by bet365 Sports.
Bayern Takes on In-Form Frankfurt on the Road
Bayern were on the verge of losing the first home match this season when they welcomed Bielefeld. The worst scoring team in the league managed to put three balls inside the net and was denied a fourth goal for offside. The reigning champions need to rebound quickly and greatly improve their performance if they want to defeat Frankfurt at home. The hosts didn’t lose a single game since mid-December and are priced by 888 Sport at 16/5. Bayern get surprisingly high odds of 4/5 at the same bookmaker to win on the road.
Slumping Dortmund Visits Rock-Bottom Schalke
Dortmund enjoy the stellar first half in the Champions League but came painfully close to concede an equalizer. They should be able to steamroll past Schalke on Saturday at 5:30 PM UK time. Playing on the road is irrelevant, and they will be competing against the worst team in the league. 888 Sport only offers odds of 3/10 on the visitors, while pricing the hosts at 15/2. These odds can seem tempting since the team plays at home, but Schalke won a single Bundesliga in more than a year.
Disclaimer:
The odds mentioned here were accurate at the featured bookmakers at the hour the article was written, respectively on Thursday, February 18 at 7 A.M. UK time.