EFL Cup Semi Final Tips
EFL Semi-Final first leg tips
There are two cracking EFL Cup semi-finals to look forward to this week with the first-legs between Middlesbrough and Chelsea and Liverpool and Fulham taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
Chelsea will be eyeing a place at Wembley and the Blues warmed up for the trip to Teeside with a 4-0 hammering of Championship side Preston at Stamford Bridge on Saturday while Middlesbrough were outclassed when losing 1-0 to Aston Villa in their FA Cup tie.
Liverpool faced a tougher task when traveling to Arsenal on Sunday, but the Reds booked their place in the fourth-round of the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory at the Emirates and Jurgen Klopp’s men are braced for the visit of Fulham, who recorded a narrow 1-0 win over Rotherham in their latest outing.
##Tip 1 Middlesbrough v Chelsea - over 3.5 goals @ 31/20
Chelsea showed their class when hammering Championship outfit Preston 4-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday and the Blues are well-fancied to make light work of another second-tier side when they travel to Middlesbrough.
There is no doubt that Chelsea are a better team than their Premier League position suggests and their performances when collecting points in games against Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City would lead you to believe that Mauricio Pochettino’s men will cruise to victory over Boro on Tuesday night.
However, the victory over Preston, like the bulk of Chelsea’s impressive efforts this season, came at Stamford Bridge and the away form of the Blues tempers enthusiasm.
Pochettino’s men have lost four of their last five away matches, conceding 12 goals along the way, and that will give Middlesbrough hope of at least finding the net.
There have been a total of 28 goals in Chelsea’s last seven away games and the goals could flow again at the Riverside.
Tip 2 Fulham/draw double chance @ 43/20
Liverpool are red-hot 1/3 favourites to win the first-leg against Fulham on Wednesday night, but there appears reason to oppose Jurgen Klopp’s men.
The Reds got the better of Arsenal at the Emirates in the FA Cup on Sunday, but that was an intense clash and Liverpool were second best for much of the 90 minutes.
It’s a sharp turnaround for Liverpool when Fulham come to Anfield on Wednesday evening and there has to be a fair chance that the Reds will rotate their side given the demanding nature of the fixture list.
Klopp is sure to be without Mohamed Salah, who has departed for the Africa Cup of Nations and Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz don’t have the goalscoring record to compensate for the Egypt star’s absence.
Fulham have shown they are good enough to get results against top sides - taking four points off Arsenal in the Premier League this season - and the Cottagers look good value to avoid defeat at Anfield.