Football Bet of the Day: Chelsea and City to complete four-game series

There’s a fair bit of interesting football action coming our way on Thursday, but for our Football Bet of the Day, of course we are focusing on the Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg between the two English giants, Chelsea and Manchester City (20:00, TNT Sports 1). City lead 2-0 from the first leg, so let’s see what I’ve picked out for this Football Bet of the Day.

Chelsea vs Man City Odds

Arguably the most fascinating period of games women’s football has ever seen finally comes to close this Thursday as Chelsea face Manchester City for the fourth consecutive game. It’s been a really interesting mini-series, especially with Nick Cushing coming back to take charge of Manchester City just before the League Cup final. 

That was the first game between these two as the March madness began and Chelsea ran out 2-1 winners thanks to an own goal late on. However, City put in an outstanding display in the following match, the first leg of this Champions League quarter-final, as Vivienne Miedema scored twice to give them a two-goal lead heading to Stamford Bridge. 

That was the best performance of the lot from a City perspective as they managed to fire off 15 shots at Chelsea’s goal in a high intensity display at the Etihad. That performance is going to be important as we assess this second leg for sure, but Chelsea did respond in the WSL this weekend, as Erin Cuthbert struck in injury time to secure another 2-1 win. 

Football Odds

Those three points in the league should all but secure them the WSL title as they now sit pretty at the top with a lead of eight points over Arsenal and Manchester United. But they will want to make this an incredibly memorable season, with the quadruple still up for grabs. If they are to win all four, they will have to overcome City by two goals, something they managed when they won 2-0 in November in the other league meeting between these two. 

Now, this game is extremely tough to predict, and I can see arguments for both sides going through. City have run Chelsea close on the two occasions they have lost to them under Cushing, while of course they also beat them 2-0 in the first leg. I can see City doing just about enough to squeeze through here, potentially after extra-time, but I am expecting the home side to have the majority of the play in front of their own fans. 

A key point to be made is this is a slightly different 90 minutes based on the game state. Chelsea have to come out all guns blazing as they look to shrink the deficit and reach the semi-finals. We all know about their attacking talent but they haven’t been quite as fluid as Sonia Bompastor would have hoped in these recent games. 

They’ve created plenty of chances and could have beaten City in all three games, but given what is on the line, I think the way to play this fixture is to pick out a Chelsea goalscorer to find the net during the 90 minutes. Although there are plenty of options, I’m going to pick out Lauren James - simply because I think she is their most talented forward. She stung the palms of Ayaka Yamashita in the first leg, and I think she is guaranteed to play the full 90 here. I’m backing the England international to make her mark on this second leg.

Offers

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 100% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down

You can read all our latest Football Bet of the Day offerings at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.