Betdistrict.com
Galatasaray and Chelsea will square off at the Turk Telekom Arena in front of an electric turkish crowd, in the first leg of this Champions League Round 16 tie. Chelsea is the odds-on favorite to win, but Galata knocked out Juventus from the group stage in a deciding match at home and can make it tough for anybody on their own turf.
Galatasaray was hoping to play a little better domestically this season, as the team is currently 2nd in the standings, 4 points away from leaders Fenerbahce. However, the hosts are in excellent form, losing just 1 time in the last 20 competitive matches and defeating Besiktas 1-0 in the last Superliga round. Despite having some amazing offensive players like Drogba, Sneijder or Yilmaz, Galata has played better on the defensive end lately, keeping 8 clean sheets in the last 9 competitive games (and 4 in the last 5 Superliga games). For sure the hosts will come up with the same defensive approach against Chelsea here.
The visitors have gotten some great results lately and are leading the Premier League 1 point ahead of Arsenal. Chelsea is on the back of a 1-0 home win against Everton thanks to an injury time Terry goal and the team is in very good form overall. However, Chelsea has faced some criticism this season due to the ugly style of play, a thing which I have to agree with. Mourinho is really exaggerating this season with Chelsea focusing solely on defense and time wasting, despite having a fantastic lineup up-front. In the last 7 games in all competitions, Chelsea scored more than 1 goal only once, against Hull, but on the other hand kept five clean sheets in this timespan.
 |
Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle. |
Both sides have the best defenses in their respective leagues by far, allowing way less than 1 goal per game in average. Chelsea has 6 games with less than 3 goals from the last 7.
Team news & lineups
Galatasaray will have only Aydin Yilmaz unavailable for this game, while Chelsea has a more lengthy injury list, missing van Ginkel, Salah and Matic, with David Luiz, Oscar and Jon Obi Mikel all being questionable.
Galatasaray: Muslera – Chedjou, Kaya, Nounkeu – Eboue, Riera, Melo, Altıntop, Sneijder – Drogba, Yilmaz
Chelsea: Cech – Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Ivanovic – Luiz, Ramires – Hazard, Lampard, Willian – Eto’o
I expect nothing else than a low-scoring game in this one and an under 2,5 to go with it. Galatasaray will surely play it safe against a better team, just like they did against Juventus (1-0), while Chelsea is not at all interested in scoring too much. Both sides have very solid defenses to back up their game plan, so I think chances will be hard to find, especially with the very high stakes this game has. I think both sides will eye the 1-0 here, with 0-0 or 1-1 being perfectly satisfactory results for Chelsea and Galata. My tip is under 2,5 goals with very few risks taken in this match. Prediction: Galatasaray – Chelsea 0-1. The odds are going downhill on this one so I would take the bet early. I`ll go with high stakes on this pick.
Pick: under 2,5 goals
Odds: 1.72 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 6.48
Event date: 26 February
