Chelsea v Bayer Leverkusen Betting Preview

The Champions League returns this week and Andre Villas-Boas makes his Chelsea bow in the competition at home to German team Bayer Leverkusen. Former Chelsea player Michael Ballack could play against his former club in London, as Bayer Leverkusen are looking to cause an early upset against one of the pretournament favourites.

Chelsea v Bayer Leverkusen odds

Chelsea have a good record in the Uefa Champions League in recent seasons, managing to qualify for the knock out stages in all 8 of their previous campaigns. However, they have not managed to lift the trophy which Roman Abramovich wants, although manger Villas-Boas did win the Europa League with Porto last season. The Blues have been efficient if not spectacular in the Premier League so far this season, and so a 2-0 win could be a good bet with odds of 7.0 available from William Hill. Fernando Torres was left out of Saturday’s win at Sunderland, but the Spaniard could well make a return on Tuesday night. The Striker is looking a good bet at 2.1 from Ladbrokes then, to score his first goal of the season at any time during the game. The Blues have also struggled to keep a clean sheet this season, with only 1 to their name, so betting on both teams to score at 2.05 with Stan James could give a decent return.

Bayer Leverkusen qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 2004 last season when they enjoyed a great campaign and finished runners up behind Borussia Dortmund. Leverkusen have also started well in this season’s Bundesliga as they currently sit in 4th place with 10 points from 5 games. The German side have a couple of injury doubts to Rene Adler and Tranquillo Barnetta, but they have some good players who could cause Chelsea some serious problems at Stamford Bridge. Striker Eren Derdiyok is one of those, the Switzerland international impressed against England in June and is looking a good bet at 13.0 at Paddy Power to open the scoring. Although clear under dogs at 9.0 with William Hill, Leverkusen had the perfect preparation at the weekend when they enjoyed a good 4-1 win away at FC Augsburg. Apart from that win though, goals have been hard to come by for Leverkusen, as they have only managed 2 goals in their previous 4 league games this season.

Highlighted Bets:
Chelsea 2-0 WIN – 7.0 William Hill
Torres anytime scorer – 2.1 Ladbrokes
Both teams to score – 2.05 Stan James
Under 2.5 goals – 1.8 Bet365
Eren Derdiyok first goal scorer – 13.0 Paddy Power

Article by Sam Markham

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches