Chelsea are Big Favourites to Win vs. Basel and Qualify to the UEFA Europa League Finals



Chelsea vs. Basel - Matchup and Team LogosChelsea are hosts to Basel in the 2nd leg of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, May 2nd 2013 at Stamford Bridge stadium in London.

Chelsea managed to beat Basel 1-2 last week and are the favourites to win again at home.

Chelsea 1/2
Draw 7/2
Basel 13/2

A $100 bet on Chelsea to win the match in London returns $50 in profit while the same bet on Basel, if successful, returns $650 in profit.

Chelsea are 1/16 (bet $100 to profit $6) to advance to the finals while Basel are at 10/1 (bet $100 to profit $1,000).

In order to advance Basel need to score at least two goals in London and this is part of the reason why the odds are so heavily stacked against them.

FC Basel managed to score twice against Tottenham at White Hart Lane earlier in April and eventually eliminate the English Premier League side in the quarter-finals. Do they have it in them to surprise Chelsea?

The Swiss team will probably come out attacking from the start as they did against Tottenham. The Over 2.5 (total goals scored) is set at 13/20 (bet $100 to profit $65) while the Under 2.5 is set at 6/5 (bet $100 to profit $120). Looks like the linemakers are of the opinion that this will be an open game with more than three goals scored. The most likely outcomes though according to the odds are 1-0 and 2-0 victories for the home side at 13/2 (bet $100 to earn $650).

Fernando Torres is the favourite to score at 11/10 (bet $100 to profit $110) followed by Juan Mata at 7/5 (bet $100 to profit $140) and Frank Lampard at 7/4 (bet $100 to profit $175). Marco Streller is the favourite to score for Basel at 5/2 (bet $100 to profit $250).

Chelse are finding their form late in the season and have won three and tied one out of their last four games. Over the weekend they beat Swansea City at home with the score of 2-0.

This should be an entertaining match. Can Basel come out strong and stun Chelsea or is this match already in the bag for the London side?