The Blues have constantly confounded expectations – for better and for worse. At the start of the season, nobody was quite sure what to expect from them. They had finished their last campaign well, but then got rid of Mauricio Pochettino. It was assumed Enzo Maresca would face, at the very least, a rocky start while he settled in.
That was compounded by some truly shocking displays in preseason. People started to fear the worst about the Pep Guardiola disciple and how his approach would work at Stamford Bridge.
But instead the start of the season exceeded all expectations. The Blues blew everyone away, and by Christmas were within one point of overtaking Liverpool at the top of the table. If you’d backed them to make the top 5 preseason, you’d have got good odds, and you would have been laughing into your turkey at Christmas, feeling like your bet was already as good as won.
Since then, however, the worm has turned. 2025 has been largely a disaster for Maresca team, with only the wins in the Conference League preventing things from becoming even more sour. The severe wobble in the league has seen the team tumble from a serene second place to an almighty scrap for the top 5 which looks set to go to the final day.
The Blues are still in it, but only just. They likely need to win both of their final 2 games of the season, and even then nothing is guaranteed. Anyone who thought their top 5 bet was won has been sweating it out for weeks now, and will have been throwing things at the TV when Nicolas Jackson got a red card against Newcastle on Sunday and effectively killed his team’s chances of a comeback.
Games against Manchester United on Friday night and away at Nottingham Forest on the final day of the season make it all a very exciting climax. With Jackson banned, a new spanner has been throw into the works, right at the final hurdle. Maresca has a real tactical conundrum to solve, just as he seemed to have something close to his ideal eleven sorted out.
A season which has swung wildly from positive to negative still could go either way in the final 180 minutes of the campaign. That’s what the fans want, right?
The Blues’ rollercoaster season is heading for a dramatic finish, and the soccer betting markets are heating up. Back in August, few expected Enzo Maresca’s side to storm up the table—especially after a shaky preseason—but by Christmas, they were just one point behind Liverpool. Smart preseason punters backing them for a Top 5 finish were looking golden.
Fast-forward to May 2025, and those same bets are on a knife’s edge. A disastrous start to the new year has left the Blues clinging to hope, needing two wins from their final two games—against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest—to have any chance of salvaging that Top 5 spot. With Nicolas Jackson suspended and pressure mounting, the odds are shifting fast.
If you’re looking to bet on a high-stakes finish, this is it. Can Maresca’s men pull it off in the final 180 minutes? Back them now—or bet on the chaos.
