This Saturday’s FA Cup Final has one of the heaviest favourites in post-war history as Premiership champions Chelsea seek to complete a ‘Double’ by beating bottom club Portsmouth.
Pompey can expect a lot of support from the neutrals because they are such massive underdogs but the way Chelsea have played in recent weeks doesn’t bode well for the fans travelling up from the South Coast.
The champions have been despatching sides from the mid-table areas of the Premier League with ruthless efficiency. In the league campaign they concluded their programme by hammering eight goals past Wigan- and the Blues hit seven goals on no less than three occasions.
There’s no doubting the bravery of Pompey’s run to the final and they did pull off a real shock to eliminate Tottenham in the semi-final. However, it was a game they could easily have lost and their crucial first goal owed a great deal to luck.
If Avram Grant’s team concede early or lose a man to a red card, the result could be very one-sided. High scoring in FA Cup Finals is a rarity, partly because the two sides are often well matched and also because players will give everything in the contest.
Since 2000, only Manchester United have netted three times and that was in the 2004 final against Millwall- a Championship side at the time. United were also the last team to hit four in the showpiece when they hammered Chelsea in 1994- and that was with the help of two penalties.
Four goals are rare. United did it in the replay against Brighton in 1983 but no team did it in the 1960s or 1970s and it was 30 years further back when Blackpool bagged four in the legendary 1953 final.
Big scores were rare even in the pre-World War Two era, when defences were much les efficient. There has never been a ‘five’ in a final, though two teams scored six- Bury in 1903 and Blackburn Rovers in 1890.
Six may be beyond even Chelsea’s glittering forward line this weekend but with the Londoners such hot-priced favourites, punters looking for a value bet might find it rewarding to wager on the correct score- and Chelsea might be in line to give their fans a real day to remember.
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FA Cup Final- How Many Chelsea Will Score?
Pompey can expect a lot of support from the neutrals because they are such massive underdogs but the way Chelsea have played in recent weeks doesn’t bode well for the fans travelling up from the South Coast.
The champions have been despatching sides from the mid-table areas of the Premier League with ruthless efficiency. In the league campaign they concluded their programme by hammering eight goals past Wigan- and the Blues hit seven goals on no less than three occasions.
There’s no doubting the bravery of Pompey’s run to the final and they did pull off a real shock to eliminate Tottenham in the semi-final. However, it was a game they could easily have lost and their crucial first goal owed a great deal to luck.
If Avram Grant’s team concede early or lose a man to a red card, the result could be very one-sided. High scoring in FA Cup Finals is a rarity, partly because the two sides are often well matched and also because players will give everything in the contest.
Since 2000, only Manchester United have netted three times and that was in the 2004 final against Millwall- a Championship side at the time. United were also the last team to hit four in the showpiece when they hammered Chelsea in 1994- and that was with the help of two penalties.
Four goals are rare. United did it in the replay against Brighton in 1983 but no team did it in the 1960s or 1970s and it was 30 years further back when Blackpool bagged four in the legendary 1953 final.
Big scores were rare even in the pre-World War Two era, when defences were much les efficient. There has never been a ‘five’ in a final, though two teams scored six- Bury in 1903 and Blackburn Rovers in 1890.
Six may be beyond even Chelsea’s glittering forward line this weekend but with the Londoners such hot-priced favourites, punters looking for a value bet might find it rewarding to wager on the correct score- and Chelsea might be in line to give their fans a real day to remember.
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