[ad_1]
For just the third time in the last 18 years, an English club will become the Europa League champion on Wednesday. Two of the nation’s top Premier League clubs meet in the final as Chelsea takes on Arsenal for the title.
Chelsea is a -150 favorite to be crowned champion in Baku, Azerbaijan at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Arsenal’s best finish in the Europa League was a runner-up finish back in 2000, and the club will be looking for its first championship in this tournament as a +125 underdog.
Chelsea supporters are likely to prefer betting on their club to lift the cup at -150 instead of on the regulation three-way line that has Chelsea as a +140 favorite over Arsenal (+205 to win, +235 to go into extra time). Over their last six competitive games, Chelsea has seen regulation end in a draw five times, including both legs of the semi-final against Eintracht. The club won the penalty kick tiebreaker 4-3 to advance to the final.
Despite ending its English Premier League season with three draws over a 1-3-0 finish, Chelsea managed to hold on to third place on the league table with a 21-9-8 record overall.
Arsenal appeared to be on its way to a third place finish on April 1 when it was in the midst of a 5-1-0 run over its last six games, but the club ended the EPL regular season on a 2-1-4 skid to finish in fifth place with a 21-7-10 record. But while they were struggling in league play, Arsenal was having no trouble at all in the Europa League, going 4-0-0 over its last four games including a 3-0 aggregate win over Napoli in the quarterfinal and a 7-3 aggregate win over Valencia in the semi-final.
Wednesday’s total is set at 2.5 goals at online sports betting sites. Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud is tied for the lead in Europa League goals with 10, and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has eight in this tournament and finished tied for first in the EPL this season with 22.
Arsenal and Chelsea are 2-2-2 against one another in their last six games in the Premier League. Seven of the last eight Europa League finals have been settled in regulation, including Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Benifica in 2013; but given how evenly matched these two teams are, this one might be destined for extra time.
For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.
Share this post if you enjoyed! 🙂
Read more at this link (News Source).
