Chelsea – Maribor

Chelsea and Maribor will square off in what is, on paper, one of the most one sided clashes in this Champions League group stage.

Chelsea`s 1-1 home draw with Schalke earlier in the group means the English side must treat this game with focus and go for the win if they want safe passage to the knockout stage. It shouldn`t be such a hard task considering the way Chelsea is playing – the hosts have been brilliant so far, they are dominating the Premier League with authority and are on the back of another convincing performance, an easy 2-1 win at Palace despite playing almost 60 minutes with 10 men. Chelsea has 9 wins (5 consecutive) and 2 draws in 11 matches this season and has scored at least two goals in 8 of those wins.

I keep getting surprised by this Maribor side, they keep on producing European upsets despite having a low quality roster (and I mean really low quality). Last year Maribor got past the group stage in Europa League and played a decent tie with Sevilla, this year they knocked out Celtic and held Sporting and Schalke to draws. If the draw against Sporting was lucky, the one in Germany was really deserved, it was a great performance by Maribor especially on the transition phase on the game – with better strikers they would have won that game. Surprisingly Maribor is struggling in the league and is just on the 3rd place (lost to Cejle in the weekend), but they are probably saving their energy for Champions League.

Bet on Chelsea – Maribor with the best Champions League asian handicap odds at Sbobet.

Team news & lineups

Costa, Mikel, Ramires and Schurrle are all out for Chelsea, with Drogba being doubtful, but otherwise Mourinho is expected to field a very strong lineup today. The visitors will be happy to report a clean bill of health ahead of this match.

Chelsea: Courtois – Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic – Fabregas, Matic – Hazard, Oscar, Willian – Rémy.

Maribor: Handanovic – Mejac, Rajcevic, Suler, Viler – Filipovic, Mertelj, Bohar, Vrsic – Ibraimi – Tavares.

Chelsea`s expected lineup is clearly giving away Mourinho`s intentions, he obviously considers this game crucial if he will not rest any players. Maribor is a decent side and all credit to them, but everything has a limit and I`m pretty sure they won`t be able to create any danger today against Chelsea. Maribor played some good European matches, was very lucky in many of them (especially with late goals), but Chelsea is a different caliber of opposition and playing at Stamford Bridge will be a real challenge for an inexperienced side. As far as I`m concerned Maribor`s quality limitations will be highlighted today. I don`t expect them to lie down and die, they have a lot of heart and will fight, but Chelsea is just too strong and has the required motivation to perform.

My tip is Chelsea to win, covering the 2,25 goal handicap in the process. Worst logical scenario I can think off is losing half of our stakes, but at these odds I`ll take the risk with a maximum investment. Prediction: Chelsea – Maribor 4-0.

Pick: Chelsea (-2,25 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.94 @ Sbobet
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 9.4
Event date: 21 October