Middlesbrough is really fighting as hard as it can to make its stay in the Premier League longer than just one season. Boro has done the job so far and has consistently stayed above the red cut line, but a match here against Chelsea at home could end up being a little more than a newly promoted team can handle.
This BPL duel will go down Sunday, November 20, 2016, at 11 a.m. ET at Riverside Stadium. The match will be televised live on NBC Sports Network.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Middlesbrough +600
Chelsea -197
Draw +325
Over/Under 2.5
Odds Analysis
The oddsmakers are telling you just how hard this match is for Boro. The team is set at 6 to 1 on the moneyline and +1 on the Asian Handicap, and that's about as big of a spread as you're going to see in the Premier League for a team that's at home.
Middlesbrough is basically a tossup at this point to score a goal as well. The total of a flat 2.5 essentially means that the final score of this game is most likely to be 2-0 or 2-1 for Chelsea.
Key Injuries
Middlesbrough is actually a relatively healthy team this season. Daniel Ayala has an ankle injury that very likely healed over the course of the international break, while James Husband is a bit more of a question mark. But aside from that, this team is completely healthy, and that's part of the reason why it's still hanging above the relegation line.
There's a real chance that Chelsea could have an entirely healthy roster for this match. That said, Antonio Conte has a big set of question marks, and inevitably, not all of said question marks are going to be in the lineup. Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are more on the probable side, while Cesc Fabregas and Kurt Zouma are more trending towards questionable.
Recent Form
Draws are often not going to cut it to keep teams in the Premier League, but when you can get a point on the road against Manchester City, that's a heck of an accomplishment no matter who you are. When you're Middlesbrough? That's a dream, really. Middlesbrough now has a result against both Manchester City and Arsenal on the road, and there aren't many teams, if any, who will be able to say that this year. Boro has five points in its last three matches, and that's awfully good for a newly promoted team.
Chelsea meanwhile, has been flying really high and looks every bit like a champion in England. The Blues are fresh off of a 5-0 win against Everton, and over the course of their last five EPL matches since getting thrashed at Arsenal, they've outscored their foes by a stunning score of 16-0.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
There's going to be a lot of bettors out there who are going to look at those first couple decent results against the big boy teams and think that Middlesbrough can get something from this match against Chelsea. If the Blues weren't in such great form, this spread would be a whole heck of a lot closer.
Chelsea is just so darn good right now to stop, and this team is still young and growing. Hazard has been fantastic all season long with seven goals in 11 matches, while Diego Costa has nine goals.
But it's the men at the back who are going to make a difference here. The Blues haven't allowed a goal in over a month in a match of any sort of consequence. Thibaut Courtois has been the best goaltender in England this year, and his fantastic year continues from the international stage and here in the Premier League.
There's no doubt that Middlesbrough isn't scoring a goal, and we just can't imagine that Chelsea is going to befell the same fate of its big boys before it.
BPL Odds: Chelsea 2, Middlesbrough 0
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