This should be expected, though, when the team has been sending Kai Havertz to lead the line for the better part of a year now, and he isn’t a striker. Meanwhile Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang only gets a run-out every few months.
The most disappointing aspect of Lampard’s second managerial tenure has been his hesitation to give the club’s young talent, such as David Datro Fofana, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Noni Madueke, consistent playing time. Trusting in youth was one of the staples of his first run as Chels‘ boss, but he’s completely gone away from that strategy this time around. It would be nice to see any of those three in the starting XI on Saturday, especially after Madueke opened his division scoring account against Arsenal. Even if they do, I wouldn’t expect to see more than one goal on the visitor’s side of the scoreboard.
Official odds (via FanDuel as of May 5)
Chelsea ML: +120
Bournemouth ML: +240
Draw: +240
Over/Under: 2.5 (-106/-116)
My Chelsea picks:
I’m once again asking you, dear reader, to trust me that this weekend’s game is going to be very boring. It’s been a very profitable betting strategy this year, and I have no plans to abandon it during the Blues’ last five matches of the season. With that in mind, I’ll take the under 2.5 total goals at -116 odds and under 1.5 on CFC’s team total at -150. Finally, give me no on the both teams to score prop for the third consecutive contest, this time at +110 odds. I haven’t seen this play with a plus sign in front of it in months, so you know I have to take advantage of the great value.