We take a look at the two EFL Cup semi-finals 2nd leg encounters taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday and suggest a bet in each game.
Let’s start with a look at the latest Outright Betting where Liverpool are trading as 5/10 favourites to lift the Cup ahead of Chelsea at 9/4. You can get 12/1 Fulham and 14/1 Middlesbrough.
Click here for the latest Outright Markets
TUESDAY
CHELSEA v MIDDLESBROUGH – Click here to bet
Chelsea will have to come from behind to win this tie after they lost 1-0 away to Middlesbrough in their 1st leg. Chelsea were firm favourites at 11/20 to take a 1st leg lead, but they fell behind to a 37th minute strike from Hayden Hackney and Middlesbrough kept them at bay to take a 1st leg lead. Prior to that Chelsea had been at home in their four matches, comfortably winning their first 3 before seeing off Newcastle on penalties in the quarter-finals.
Middlesbrough had all away matches leading up to their 1st leg semi-final and they won all of them in regulation time, but Chelsea were the first English Premier League side they met on route to the last 4.
Chelsea beat Fulham 1-0 at home in the English Premier League in their last start and Middlesbrough have played twice since that 1st leg victory beating Millwall away and drawing 1-1 with Rotherham in the Championship.
Chelsea are the 2/7 favourites with the draw 11/2 and Middlesbrough, rank outsiders at 9/1. Chelsea should win this game, but I think it could be closer than the bookies think and I am going to back them to win by 1 goal exactly in the 90 minutes,
Suggested Bet: Handicap, Chelsea -1, the draw at 16/5
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WEDNESDAY
FULHAM v LIVERPOOL – Click here to bet
Liverpool were 9/20 favourites in the 1st leg at Anfield and they delivered the win 2-1 having trailed 1-0 at the break before Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo popped up with two goals in 3 minutes around the 70 minute mark to seal the win. For Fulham, Willian had given them the lead in the 19th minute.
To get to the semi-finals, Fulham had beaten Tottenham on penalties, Norwich 2-1 at home, Ipswich 3-1 on the road and then Everton on penalties away from home and their last League game was a 1-0 defeat at Chelsea.
Liverpool beat Leicester 3-1 at home in their opening match before seeing off Bournemouth away and hammering West Ham 5-1 at home. Both teams have found the back of the net in all four Liverpool EFL fixtures this season and they were in top form in the League this past weekend beating Bournemouth 4-0 on the road.
Liverpool are 8/10 to win the game in 90 minutes with the draw 3/1 and Fulham on offer at 33/10. Both teams to score looks the obvious play here, but at 5/8 it is a bit short for me as is the 8/13 that we get over 2.5 goals. I expect this to be a lively encounter with action both sides and I am going to bet that we get 4 goals or more.
Suggested Bet: Over 3.5 goals at 15/10
Click here for betting on all of this week’s English Football action
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
