Chelsea v West Bromwich Albion. Preview

Double winners Chelsea kick off their Premier League title defence against newly-promoted West Brom on Saturday evening (14. August 2010) in what many people will have down as their banker of the weekend. It’s no surprise to see the Blues as short as 1/6 to win this one, with West Brom 14/1 outsiders and the draw 11/2 at for exsample Bet365.

While we’ve grown used to seeing Chelsea throwing eye-watering amounts of cash around during the close season, its been very different this year with Ricardo Carvalho’s move to Madrid making him the 5^th big name to leave the club after Joe Cole, Michael Ballack, Juliano Belletti and Deco.

With only Yossi Benayoun’s arrival and the pending transfer of Ramires to balance those losses, the Blues are putting plenty of faith in the players who did so well last year on their way to breaking the Premier League goals record with a staggering 103 for the season.

Last season’s Golden Boot winner Didier Drogba will once again spearhead his side’s attack, and understandably he is as short as 4/7 to hit the target against the Baggies, 11/4 to score first, and 9/4 for 2 or more goals. It would be hard to argue with any of those bets really.

Florent Malouda’s wonderful form in the second half of last season saw him pick up the Player of the Month award for March, and he can put France’s shambolic World Cup behind him straight away in this one – the 13/8 about him to be on target looks very backable.

Frank Lampard is another player who had a summer to forget, though last season produced his best ever goal scoring return as he hit 27 in all competitions. If you fancy him to carry on where he left off here, the  traders bravely offer the best price in the industry about him to score – a very tidy-looking 5/4.

Roberto Di Matteo led West Brom back to the top-flight at the first time of asking following their relegation in 2009, but as even-money second favourites for relegation behind only Blackpool in the betting, it’s obvious how difficult this campaign is likely to be.

Of course, these aren’t the sort of games that decide whether sides go down or not, and in a lot of ways, starting with a match where there is absolutely nothing to lose is ideal for the Baggies, and there’ll certainly be no pressure on them against Di Matteo’s old club.

They have always been admirably realistic, refusing to risk the club’s future by spending silly money in an all-out effort just to survive, and it’s been a frugal summer once again at the Hawthorns with Nicky Shorey and Boaz Myhill the main arrivals for a combined fee of just £3m.

Luke Moore, Ishmael Miller and Roman Bednar will be vying for spots up front and all 3 are available at 16/1 to score the first goal in this one. Former Arsenal man Jerome Thomas is another who will provide a real threat from wide positions and at 20/1, he could just be worth a pound or two for the first goal.

Ultimately, it’s difficult to see this being anything other than one-way traffic, and Chelsea -1 on the handicap market looks like a fantastic bet at 8/15, as does Chelsea to win both halves at 11/10. For a correct score bet, I’d go for Chelsea to win 4-0 at 10/1. Bet on this match here

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