12 Jun 2019
Both teams have European football next season on their minds, with Chelsea eyeing a Champions League spot, while FA Cup finalists Watford still hope to qualify for the Europa League.
Chelsea are in prime position to maintain their top-four spot thanks to picking up a valuable point in a 1-1 draw at Manchester United last weekend.
Maurizio Sarri’s side are two points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal and three clear of United. As such, Chelsea are 4/11 to finish in the top four. They travel to in-form Leicester for their final clash next weekend. Arsenal travel to Burnley for their final game and the Gunners are 9/4 to finish in the top four.
Both Chelsea and Arsenal are involved in Europa League semi-final action this week and both have a chance of making the Champions League next season should they win Europe’s second-tier club competition.
A win for Chelsea in either of their final two games should be good enough to clinch Champions League football next season, but Arsenal have a winnable game at home to Brighton this Saturday and the Blues will need to match what the Gunners do in the final two games to secure one of the two remaining top-four spots.
Chelsea are 4/9 to beat Watford at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Watford have an outside chance of qualifying for the Europa League. Seventh place should be good enough, but the Hornets are four points behind seventh-placed Wolves and must also hope that Leicester and Everton, who are directly above them in the table, don’t pick up positive results in their last two games.
The mind-set of the Watford players will be interesting. They will be unable to clinch seventh place if Wolves beat Fulham on Saturday and their odds of 6/1 to win at Stamford Bridge might look a little generous should the Cottagers get a result at Molineux.
TEAM NEWS
Chelsea’s ongoing Europa League campaign means they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg of their semi-final at Stamford Bridde next Thursday.
Sarri is expected to once again shuffle his pack, since striking options are limited with Callum Hudson-Odoi sidelined after an Achilles operation and defender Antonio Rudiger ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. The German, who will be replaced by Andrea Christensen, underwent surgery on Tuesday, which was described as “successful”.
Sarri had an otherwise healthy squad to face Eintracht Frankfurt, with Willian taking part in training, having overcome a knock picked up via a disgraceful challenge from Manchester United’s Marcos Rojo at Old Trafford.
Gonzalo Higuain is expected to replace Olivier Giroud up front and he is 21/20 to score at any time and 9/2 to score two or more.
Watford were dealt a major blow of finishing seventh when slipping to a 2-1 home defeat by Wolves on Saturday, a game in which they were given a Cup Final injury scare when centre-half Craig Cathcart limped off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. He remains a doubt.
Domingos Quina (shoulder) and Jose Holebas (hamstring) will sit out the rest of the season, but striker Troy Deeney, who was dismissed in the 1-0 home defeat by Arsenal, has served his three match ban and is available to play. Deeney is 10/3 to score at any time.
CHELSEA TO SEAL THE DEAL?
Watford have won two of the last 20 meetings with Chelsea – and both of those wins came at Vicarage Road. Their last win at Stamford Bridge occurred 33 years ago to the day – a 5-1 win on May 5, 1986.
Watford have lost 10 of the last 13 meetings in all competitions (W1 D2) and the hornets are 17/10 to win or draw on the Double Chance market.
Goals are usually on the agenda in this London derby, as no less than nine of the last 10 meetings yielded three goals or more in total. It is 4/7 that over 2.5 goals will be scored at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Chelsea have netted a total of 26 times in their last seven meetings at home, winning to nil on four of those occasions. They have conceded in each of Watford’s last three visits, however, and the Blues are 11/10 to keep a clean sheet this time.
Seven of the last 10 clashes saw both sides find the net, including the last five clashes, and it is 4/5 for both teams to score and 15/8 for Chelsea to win but concede.
The Hornets have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last 12 games. They last registered a clean sheet when beating QPR 1-0 in the FA Cup fifth round in mid-February. It is 7/5 that Chelsea and Watford are deadlocked at half-time.
In the last five meetings, Chelsea have conceded 11 total goals, so Watford are netting at an average over two goals a game. It is 3/1 that they score over 1.5 goals and 4/6 that they score (over 0.5 goals).
To see all the odds on this clash, click here.
