Chelsea travel to Leeds for a Premier League match, and England is trying to win the Second Ashes Test to keep their chances of winning the Series. Welcome to this week’s edition of Round the Sports World!
Leeds - Chelsea (Premier League)
- Start: Wednesday, 3 December, at 20:15
- Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
- Coverage: Sky Sports Premier League
- Fun fact: Proof of the fact that Chelsea share their goals around is that 11 different players have scored for them so far this season in the Premier League, with Enzo Fernandes, Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto having scored four each.
Betting Tips
Leeds are 4.33 to beat Chelsea at home on Wednesday night, with the draw at 3.8 and the Chelsea win available at 1.75.
But if Chelsea are favourites in the main market, the bookies can’t split the over/under 2.5 goals one with ‘overs’ 1.83 and ‘unders’ 1.98.
Leeds are fresh from an excellent effort in almost getting something from the game away at Manchester City. They eventually lost the match to a late Phil Foden goal to go down 3-2, but impressed with some good football.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin and L. Nmecha both scored in that game, and they’re 3.45 and 3.6, respectively, to score anytime against Chelsea.
As for Chelsea, they’ve mostly shared the goals around this season rather than one player scoring the bulk of them. The one player who has already scored a fair few this season is Enzo Fernández. He’s got five for the season already and has played in a far more advanced role this campaign, so he might be a good bet at 3.9 to add to his tally.
Summary
It’s been something of an up-and-down season so far for Chelsea, who are currently in third position, tied with Aston Villa, one place behind Manchester City and six off Arsenal. They’re still in the title race, albeit a tough one, and they can’t be slipping up in matches such as these if they’re to be genuine title contenders.
They secured a creditable 1-1 draw at home to the league leaders Arsenal, but a familiar theme emerged in that one: they had Moises Caicedo sent off in the first half for a dangerous tackle.
That was the fourth red card they’ve been shown in the Premier League this season, to go with one in the Champions League as well, so indiscipline has been a big factor for them this year. Another problem they’ve had to deal with is the extended absence of Cole Pamer, their ace playmaker and a regular scorer, who has featured in only four games this season due to numerous injuries.
As for Leeds, they have plenty of work to do if they’re to beat the drop, given they’re currently in 18th. But if they continue playing with so much desire and carry on picking up a few wins at home, they may just have what it takes to avoid the drop. A win here would certainly help.
Ashes Second Test
- Start: Thursday, 4 December, at 04:00
- Venue: Brisbane, Australia
- Coverage: TNT Sports 1
- Fun fact: England certainly have their work cut out if they’re going to win in Brisbane: they haven’t been victorious here since 1986.
Betting
Victory in the First Test, not to mention the manner of it, means Australia are 1.25 to win the Ashes. That’s not a surprising price because every England side that has toured Australia in the past knows that it’s one thing to win the First Test, but it’s quite another to try to bounce back from a loss first up. It’s now 4.0 for the England series win, while a drawn series is available at the huge price of 14.0.
Betfred are offering just 1.5 that Australia go 2-0 up, with England 2.8 and the draw, a rarity in Australia at the best of times (and even more so in day-nighters), on offer at 12.0.
Alex Carey, the Australian wicket-keeper, was something of a surprise winner of the Australia first innings to batsman market in the first one and remains a good price for back-to-back wins at 11.0.
England’s first innings top batsman Harry Brook is 10/3, but the better price could be Ollie Pope. Pope looked to be one of the few England batsmen in decent touch, contributing with scores of 46 and 33 that on another day could have made all the difference, so there’s no good reason why he should be almost twice the price of Brook.
Joe Root, normally England’s most reliable batsman, had two failures at Perth with scores of 0 and 8 is 14/5 to top-score in the first innings.
Summary
The general consensus is that England threw away a wonderful opportunity to win the First Test and put Australia under real pressure. Instead of buckling down, playing the waiting game and showing patience, they were too aggressive and played too many loose shots, which ultimately cost them. Had England put on another 50-70 runs, it would have been game over for Australia.
That’s all in the past now, but it will be interesting to see if they’ve learned from their mistakes.
This day-night Test will use a pink ball rather than a red one, and the pink ball tends to swing more under lights, making it harder to score. So, patience and good technique will be essential rather than trying to score quickly.
What’s going to make life far harder for England is the presence of Mitchell Starc. The left-arm pace bowler has helped Australia win 13 of the 14 pink ball Tests they’ve played, and in the process, Starc has taken 81 wickets, far more than anyone else in the world under lights. No wonder he’s only 9/4 to lead the wicket-taking charts in the first innings in the process.
The bad news for Australia is that both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are still unavailable, but the good news is that Scott Boland and Brendan Doggett, their replacements in Perth, did extremely solid jobs in their absence.
For England, there’s no Mark Wood, but he didn’t have a great game last time, so maybe it’s not such a big loss. One thing is for sure, defeat for England here and it’s going to be a torrid time for them over the next few weeks.
Betting Tip of the Week
It’s impossible to dismiss the credentials of Mitchell Starc to be Australia's top first innings bowler at odds of 3.25.
He’s the best pink ball bowler in the world, so he will be licking his lips at the prospect of playing in these conditions under lights.
He started the Series in style, taking 10 wickets in the first Test and being Player of the Match as Australia won, so he certainly arrives here in excellent form. It may not seem the highest price in the world, but the great man is going to take some beating.
