Premier League, Sunday, 13.04.2025 at 3:00 PM
In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you finish third or fourth – the main thing is to make it into the premier class! Chelsea have a lot of work ahead of them, given how close the teams are, they could even drop out of the top seven.
On Sunday, the Blues will face a likely relegated team, and of course they are the clear favorites. Nevertheless, in my Chelsea Ipswich betting tip, I would like to explain why I am exercising caution and therefore betting on “under 3.5 goals”.
The Premier League is taking a leaf out of the Bundesliga’s book – you really have no idea which teams will make it to the Champions League in the end! Liverpool are heading for the title, while Arsenal want to secure second place.
Nottingham seems to be relatively safe with 57 points, but behind them it gets interesting: 53 points for Chelsea and Newcastle, 52 for ManCity, 51 for Aston Villa – and Newcastle still has a game in hand!
As you can see, nothing has been decided yet. Until Christmas, the Blues were really strong away from home, but weak at home. At some point, they decided to turn it all around.
The reason I mention this so early in my analysis is that they have only managed to win two consecutive games once since the beginning/middle of December – and a few weeks ago, the fixture schedule gave Chelsea two consecutive home appearances.
There has not been an away win for more than four months, and they had to settle for a 0-0 draw at Brentford. It is therefore all the better that Chelsea are back at home on Sunday.
The team is on a streak of five consecutive home wins. 1-0 against Tottenham, 1-0 against Leicester, 4-0 against Southampton, 2-1 against West Ham and 3-1 against Wolverhampton: it was a colorful mix of offensive and efficient performances.
Nevertheless, I note that regardless of the venue, the Londoners have not been able to score before half-time for four games. A long streak, they have never waited so long for a goal in the first half.
The first half of the season has not been forgotten, of course, when Chelsea surprisingly lost 0-2 to Ipswich, giving their opponents their first home win of the season – and so far they have not won again.
Given the situation in the table, it is not surprising that the 1×2 odds of our tax-free bookmakers are estimated at an average of 1.30 to 9.00. Ipswich is unlikely to be able to prevent immediate relegation.
Twelve points behind the safety line, that is only theoretically possible. It may be mathematically possible, but for a team that only has four wins after 31 rounds?
After the 2-1 win against Bournemouth, they went in the other direction again, losing the immensely important game against Wolverhampton (of all teams, against the club in 17th place) 1-2.
The fact that they still had three wins away from home (all of them 2-1) doesn’t make me want to go into euphoria either. Ipswich kept two clean sheets, with their only clean sheet coming in the first leg against Chelsea, of all games.
Incidentally, it is the first time since 2001 that they have traveled to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. More than 20 years ago, John Terry and Frank Lampard were still playing.
At least the Tarctor Boys have been doing well in recent away games. Before the 2-1 win over Bournemouth, they lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace and 3-2 at Manchester United. They at least got a point against Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw.
The fight for the Champions League will probably be decided at the last minute. Chelsea have a good chance in itself, but since the results in foreign countries continue to fail to materialize, the home games have to be an absolute certainty.
Defensively, I can’t fault the team, especially since Ipswich is really not an overpowering opponent. The guests can hardly avoid relegation and will only have a chance on Sunday if Chelsea – as in the first leg – mercilessly underestimates them.
For the Blues, only the points count, a beautiful game is not necessarily a must. Since the Londoners were also on the road internationally during the week, I could imagine a somewhat more reserved performance and predict:
The 3.5 goals will not be surpassed!
