Chelsea vs Watford: Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Prediction

Chelsea will celebrate winning the Premier League title when they take on Watford at Stamford Bridge tonight.

The Blues wrapped-up their fifth Premier League with a 1-0 victory at West Bromwich Albion on Friday night so there will be a party atmosphere in west London this evening.

Michy Batshuayi’s late goal was enough to secure the trophy but Antonio Conte will want to keep his players focussed as they look to seal a double with a win over Arsenal in the FA Cup final later this month.

Watford have let their form slip in recent weeks as they’ve got nothing left to play for having secured their top flight status for another year with the Hornets losing their last four games.

Team News

Conte is being tipped to make a few changes with John Terry expected to be given a rare start at the back. David Luiz could be the man to make way as the Brazilian international has been carrying a knee injury for some time and he might be rested ahead of the FA Cup final.

Batshuayi could also start up front after netting the vital goal on Friday night with Diego Costa making way while N’Golo Kante is set for a recall in midfield.

Watford will be without Christian Kabasele as he picked up a hamstring injury during the 1-0 defeat to Everton while Miguel Britos, Craig Cathcart and Younes Kaboul are also missing.

Likely Line-Ups

Thibout Courtois should keep his place between the sticks while we should see Terry coming in for Luiz alongside Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill at the back. Kante should partner Fabregas in midfield with Nemanja Matic dropping out while Willian could replace Pedro in attack.

Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso should retain their places on the flanks while I think Hazard will start and support Batshuayi up front.

As for Watford, they have problems in defence so we could see Daryl Janmaat drop in to the back three with Zuniga coming in at wing-back. Niang could also get a recall to join Deeney up front and Okaka dropping to the bench.

Predicted Score

Chelsea 2-0 Watford: The Blues can’t afford to down tools just yet as they need to keep up the momentum ahead of the FA Cup final but it’s pretty clear the Watford players are already on the beach. Their form has been woeful since they hit the 40 point marker and with an injury crisis in defence to worry about, I can’t see anything other than a routine home win tonight.

Betting Tips

Chelsea are the 2/11 favourites with the bookies but new customers enhanced odds of 25/1 on the Blues with a maximum stake of £1. If you want some more value and the chance to win some real money, then I also like the look of Chelsea winning the game 2-0 at odds of 6/1 while we can get odds of 14/1 if we throw in Eden Hazard as the first goalscorer.