Chelsea should beat Saints – and we fancy them against United

Chelsea begin a very busy period with a trip to St Mary’s on Saturday, bidding to cement a Champions League spot ahead of their FA Cup quarter-final replay with Manchester United on Easter Monday.

The Blues are 23/20 at BetVictor to take all three points from Southampton and the hosts’ 3-1 home win against Liverpool shows they are a decent side at home despite their 5-1 FA Cup thumping at the hands of Chelsea back in January.

Saints are out to 8/1 for the drop but are not yet guaranteed to be playing their football at the top table next season, so will be no pushovers.

It would be a surprise if either side failed to hit the back of the net and we bet 3/5 that both sides score and 11/8 that one or both sides fail to score.

Chelsea remain 1/2 to finish the season as top London club, with Arsenal 7/2 and Spurs 4s.

Chelsea are back in action on Monday when they entertain United. The holders are 4/1 to lift the trophy for the third time in four years with 2011 winners Manchester City 5/4 favourites and United 11/4.

BetVictor just favour Chelsea at 29/20 with United 19/10 and the draw 13/5 in the 90 minutes, with the Blues 5/6 to qualify and United even-money.

Note we have suspended betting on the market to be the next manager of Chelsea. We are convinced Jose Mourinho will be back at Stamford Bridge in the summer.

Rangers, 1/7 to be relegated, meet Fulham Monday night’s west London derby at Craven Cottage and it promises to be a cracker.

The Whites are even-money favourites with the R’s 16/2 and the draw at 23/10.

Dimitar Berbatov has scored in Fulham’s last three league games – the first time he has done so since December 2011.

The Bulgarian has never scored in four successive Premier League fixtures but is 9/2 to score first and 5/4 to find the back of the net at any time.

There have only been eight goals in the Hoops’ eight London derbies so far this season but Rangers have certainly improved under Harry Redknapp and have lost three of eight games on the road since he took over.

That’s hardly relegation form, but is it too little too late?

A draw is unlikely to be enough for Rangers and three or more goals in the game is priced at 19/20 at BetVictor. The stats suggest there won’t be many goals, but I disagree.

For all your weekend odds check out betvictor.com

Happy Easter

Charlie