Frank Lorenzo
PSG (+170) at Chelsea (+180), Draw (+240)
It’s win or go home for Chelsea. The Blues need to top French powerhouse PSG in the second leg of their Round of 16 playoff today at Stamford Bridge in London (2:45 PM Eastern) to keep their dreams of a Champions League title alive.
PSG took game one in France, 2-1. Thanks to scoring an away goal, Chelsea would advance with a 1-0 win today.
Some of the trends look to favor the Blues. Chelsea won all their home games in the Group Stage and are unbeaten in seven straight against French sides at Stamford Bridge (posting clean sheets in five of those).
PSG have been a solid road team, beating Malmo and Shakhtar away in the Group Stage, while losing to Real Madrid in Spain. But they don’t have a great record against English competition, going 3-5-4 overall, and 0-3-3 on English soil.
But PSG have their own trends to fall back on: the squad has reached the quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons and drew Chelsea 2-2 last time they visited Stamford Bridge. (Another draw today would see them advance.)
They have also nearly clinched another Ligue 1 title (sitting a ridiculous 23 points up on second-place Monaco), so they should have had ample time to focus on and prepare for their trip across the Channel.
These teams are pretty even on paper, but PSG have been in better form all year. Expect them to earn the draw they need against a Chelsea side that will have to press.
Pick: Draw (+240).
(Photo credit: Aleksandr Osipov from Ukraine (Eden Hazard / Эден Азар) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
