Midweek Premiership

One from two here for Tom, as Utd despatched Bolton 2-0,  and Chelsea went close,  but no cigar, eventually drawing 4-4 in a thriller.

Two massive games in the race for the Premier League title on Wednesday night and Arsenal must look on and hope that their two rivals drop points. The Gunners five point lead at the summit has been whittled away with a string of poor performances and Chelsea now look best positioned to challenge Manchester United.

The Blues go to White Hart Lane tonight knowing that, with United hosting Bolton, they need to pick up all three points. They’ll also be keen to exact revenge for their Carling Cup final defeat and I think they will be relishing the trip.

I’ve thought for some time now that Chelsea were being overlooked in the title race and their relentless form has seen them close the gap to just three points at the top. With Arsenal to come on Grand Slam Sunday a win at Spurs is imperative and I wouldn’t be at all surprised were they to get it.

Since their victory at Wembley Spurs have looked largely disinterested in the majority of their games and, given their recent UEFA Cup exit, they have nothing left to play for this season. Hosting fierce rivals Chelsea should guarantee a certain level of motivation but Juande Ramos’s troops have looked lethargic of late and they’ll need to raise their game to cope with the Blues.

While I fancy Chelsea to emerge victorious I’m not too sure that the 2.20 on offer represents much value given Spurs’ overall decent home form and a better wager is to take the visitors to be leading at halftime and fulltime. This is a rare play for me in this market but Chelsea have been starting recent games very well indeed and at 3.60 it is the bet to be had in the game.

Up at Old Trafford it is very difficult to look beyond a comfortable Manchester United victory against Bolton and odds of 1.17 or thereabouts suggest that will be the case. They were rampant at Derby on Saturday, could have had five or six, while Bolton were limping to a 1-0 defeat at Wigan.

I think Gary Megson may even chose to rest key men for more important winnable matches ahead and the recommendation is to dutch United winning handsomely to nil. This is often an excellent strategy when fancying a very short priced side and with United’s brilliant defensive record on home soil it is not difficult to imagine them keeping a clean sheet. Dutching 2-0, 3-0 and 4-0 at the best odds available pays 2.64 and that price looks very juicy indeed.