FA Cup romantics have their dream quarter-final as eight-time winners and world club champions Chelsea take on League One's bottom club Port Vale at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.
Thousands of Vale fans will put aside a bleak league campaign for this weekend and savour a day out at mighty Chelsea, praying their team can pull off one of the greatest ever FA Cup shocks.
Our 1/20 football odds for a Chelsea win suggests Vale’s supporters will head back home happy but beaten – though them having seen off Sunderland in the last round means Liam Rosenior’s all-stars will be wary of taking the Valiants lightly.
It is a fascinating fixture, the sort only this great old competition can throw up, and we have identified a 15/2 bet builder for the contest.
Chelsea v Port Vale Bet Builder
Goal bands Team B – 0 @ 8/13
Over 10.5 corners @ 21/20
Benoit Badiashile to have 1+ shots on target @ 6/4
Pays out at 15/2
No fairytale on the cards at the Bridge
These are the days when the romantic in all of us (Chelsea fans aside) would love to see the mother and father of all upsets pulled off at the Bridge.
Vale, heading for League Two next season, at Chelsea, heading back into the Champions League (if they pull their fingers out in the Premier League) next season. It just oozes the magic of the cup.
And the Valiants have demonstrated they love an upset. In the two major cup competitions this season they have beaten a trio of teams from higher divisions, Birmingham and Bristol City from the Championship and, most notably of all, Sunderland, 1-0 in the last round of this tournament.
But travelling anywhere fills Vale fans with dread – all five of their FA Cup ties this season have been played at Vale Park.
Away from home they have scored just 13 goals in 19 league matches and that’s in League One lest we forget.
Last weekend they lost 4-0 at Wycombe a few days after going down 1-0 at Doncaster. The likelihood of them springing a surprise at Stamford Bridge is so slim, while the chances of them finding the net are pretty thin too.
Leg 1: Goal bands Team B – 0 @ 8/13
Blues bombardment to yield high corner count
Vale conceded nine corners in their 1-0 win over Sunderland in the last round, part of a match corner count of 14.
In Chelsea’s last three home games – against Burnley, Newcastle and Paris Saint-Germain – they have racked up 26 corners at 8.6 per game.
The pressure on the visitors’ goal will be fairly constant from a team desperate to deliver a big win following their Champions League exit.
That may translate into a high-scorer; it ought to at the very least add up to a barrage of home corners and a match corner count of 11 or more looks perfectly plausible.
Leg 2: Over 10.5 corners @ 21/20
Big Ben to strike fear into hearts of minnows
Second guessing Liam Rosenior’s team selection or formation is a battle in itself but one player who seems certain to be involved is centre-back Benoit Badiashile.
The strapping Frenchman has been a League Cup and FA Cup mainstay and, with the likes of Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill all missing, he will get his chance.
If Chelsea, as forecast, pile up free-kicks and corners galore then Badiashile is going to be a menace from decent deliveries.
Complete your bet builder by chucking a dart at the 25-year-old having at least one shot on target.
Leg 3: Benoit Badiashile to have 1+ shots on target @ 6/4
