This Club World Cup is going to prove a very interesting tournament to bet on, we think.
Given this is still its first edition, there are a lot of unknowns which always play into the hands of the punters over the bookies. Chelsea in particular look like they could be a good outside bet to win this.
Chelsea may be underrated by past struggles
A glance at sites like Betway show the Blues hovering around 6th or 7th favourites, as they were before the tournament started. That is fair enough, given our recent record of being out of the Champions League and struggling in the Premier League at times in the last few years.
There is no way we can be considered as good as the likes of PSG or Bayern Munich.
But it does also ignore some potentially significant data – like the fact that that same lack of success we’ve had in recent years makes this much more important for us than some of those other top teams, both financially and in terms of prestige.
PSG – for example – have nothing to prove. They can take this as a bit of free money, rotate their team and play their young players. Their focus is on rest and recovery for next season. Luis Enrique and co. have their eyes on bigger prizes.
So while we would be heavy outsiders against them in a Champions League game right now, a Club World Cup match up could easily see us play a full strength, super motivated team against a group of Parisians who have been told by Luis Enrique to just go out and have some fun.
Maresca’s team selection questions
Enzo Maresca played what is essentially his first team in our first group game against LAFC. All eyes are now on what he does tomorrow night against Flamengo – we expect major rotation, but by the time we reach the knockout stages, we’ll be back to full power, surely.
There are also a lot of other factors involved here, like the travel between cities and training bases, plus the extreme heat or humidity in some of the locations. The empty stadiums we’ve seen for some group games will likely become less of a problem as things go along, but for now are another factor skewing things.
Chelsea have a lot of momentum, having played meaningful games domestically and in Europe all the way until mid last month. That might just carry them to the title.
