The final action in the opening round of the new English Premier League season comes from Craven Cottage on Monday night where Fulham clash with Chelsea in a West London derby
Fulham vs Chelsea
Fulham have turned to Alvaro Arbeloa following the departure of coach Marco Silva and the former Real Madrid boss has brought in Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacios from his old club and Shea Charles is another arrival from Southampton for £30m. Sasa Lukic and Issa Diop both left for Ipswich and free agents Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez have also moved on. Fulham finished in mid table last season.
Chelsea
Another former Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso is now in charge at Chelsea who have no European football to look forward to aafter a mid table finish last season. Big money arrivals include Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for £117m, Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace for £51m, Geovany Quenda from Sporting for £43.5m and Marco Palestra from Atalanta for £43m. Experienced campaigners Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck have also arrived. Heading out Marc Cucurella is now at Real Madrid, Andrey Santos is at Man Utd and Trevoh Chalobah joined Como whilst Gnarcho is at Villa on loan.
The Betting
Fulham are trading at 27/10 with the draw at 26/10 and Chelsea can be backed at around 9/10.
A game of 3 goals or more is 8/13 and it’s 11/20 for both teams to score.
Verdict:
I’m with Chelsea to make a winning start but by the minimum margin.
Bet: Chelsea to win by 1 goal exactly at 28/10 with Sportingbet
Prices are subject to change