Friday 16th February 2018
FA Cup Fifth Round
Chelsea v Hull City 20:00
After a tough few weeks, Chelsea returned to winning ways on Monday night with a 3-0 home victory over West Brom – a win that will see them head into this FA Cup clash with a lot more confidence then they did a few weeks ago.
Conti’s men are back in action this Friday night as they see Hull City, who – don’t forget – got to the 2014 Final – head to Stamford Bridge for an intriguing FA Cup Fifth round clash.
Chelsea have won the FA Cup seven times, with the most recent of those victories coming in in 2012 with a 2-1 win over Liverpool in the Final.
Chelsea fans will also know they lost in the Final last season to Arsenal, so will be looking to go one better this campaign and join Spurs with 8 FA Cup wins – that would take them to joint-third in the all-time FA Cup Hall Of Fame – they are around 5.50 in the outright betting.
Having said that, they still need to beat Hull City first and although they’ve got home advantage against a Championship side towards the foot of the table, this is, after all, the FA Cup and anything can happen!
Hull are currently 21st in the Championship so will have bigger goals this season than the FA Cup, but sometimes a decent run in the cup can breed confidence to their league form, while a day out at Chelsea for their fans is not to be overlooked.
The match betting has a very one-sided feel to it with Chelsea on offer at just 1.18 in the 90 mins market, with the draw 7.00 and Hull 13.00. Chelsea are even shorter at 1.083 to qualify, with Hull 8.00.
The teams last met in the Premier League in 2017, with Chelsea winning that 2-0, while they’ve played 9 times in the FA Cup with the current standings, Chelsea 6, Draws 3, Hull 0!
They last played in this competition in 1999 and Chelsea also took that game 0-2.
In fact, 2-0 Chelsea is a very popular score line when these sides have played in the past. We’ve seen 5 of the last 6 head-to-heads end 2-0 to Chelsea, so at 6.00 this option in the correct score market can’t be ignored.
Chelsea have also won 5 of their last 6 vs Hull without letting a goal in, so a Chelsea clean sheet at 1.66 is another option that stands out. Especially as Hull have only scored twice in their last six against Chelsea!
Another way to play this stat would be the ‘both teams NOT to score’ market. This bet has rewarded backers in 5 of the last 6 head-to-heads, but is a slightly worse 1.57.
Also – did you know that Chelsea have NEVER lost at home to Hull in all competitions? – 22 games!
6 of the last 7 clashes have actually been fairly low-scoring games – Under 2.5 goals. We’ve already mentioned the popular 2-0 correct score which further backs this up. Less than 3 goals scored in the game (Under 2.5) can be backed at 2.35.
Eden Hazard is Chelsea’s main man in front of goal this season. The pocket Belgium netted twice on Monday night to overtake Morata with 11 league goals. He can be backed at 4.33 to get the first goal, or 1.80 anytime.
Looking at Hull – their Jarrod Bowen tops their scoring lists in the league this season with 12 strikes, so if you think the visitors might get on the score sheet here then he could be your best bet. He’s 19.00 to score first, or 6.50 anytime.
Hull will come into the game with a bit of confidence though after a recent 0-2 away win at Forest, while the Tigers have only lost 1 of their last four.
However, it’s hard to see anything but a Chelsea win here, plus with the Blues back on track after a comfortable 3-0 home win over West Brom on Monday night. It’s hard to ignore the 2-0 score line that is often the case when these sides met, but the main bet will be Chelsea to keep a clean sheet at 1.66.
BEST BET: Chelsea to win 2-0 @6.00 & Chelsea to win ‘to nil’
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Friday 16th February 2018
FA Cup Fifth Round
Chelsea v Hull City 20:00
– Last met 2017 Premier League, Chelsea 2-0 Hull
– Played in the FA Cup 9 times, Chelsea 6, Draw 3, Hull 0
– Last met in the FA Cup in 1999, Hull 0-2 Chelsea
– Chelsea have won 5 of their last 6 vs Hull 2-0
– Chelsea have won 5 of their last 6 vs Hull ‘to nil’
– Hull have only scored 2 goals in their last 6 vs Chelsea
– Hull have scored just 1 goal in their last 5 away games at Chelsea
– 6 of the last 7 head-to-heads went UNDER 2.5 GOALS
– Both teams DIDN’T score in 5 of the last 6 head-to-heads
– Chelsea have scored at least 2 goals in all of their last 6 vs Hull
– 1 DRAW in the last 8 head-to-heads
– Chelsea have NEVER lost at home to Hull (all comps) (22 games)
– Morata (Chelsea) is their top league scorer this season (10 goals)
– Jarrod Bowen (Hull) is their top league scorer this season (12 goals)