Andy Holding & Tom Love's Cheltenham & Football Double

Connections of the former have decided to come here rather than face the thankless task of flying the flag for GB in the Turners and that choice looks to be the right move based on his profile. Venetia Williams’ gelding has displayed the rare trait of speed and stamina in all four of his wins over fences and there’s no doubt his latest victory was his best. Although it might well have been a weak contest by Grade 1 standards, the son of Diamond Boy still clocked a time befitting a race of its magnitude, and he did so without being fully extended. Prior to that spectacular 21-length romp, the seven-year-old had put on a jumping clinic when winning over today’s course and with the added advantage of being one of the only horses in the field who has proven himself around here, he ticks plenty of boxes.

Lille have it all to do in this second leg after going down 2-0 at Stamford Bridge a couple of weeks ago. They’ve responded pretty well since then with a couple of wins and a draw but they’ll have to show some attacking verve to overcome a strong Chelsea defence who are also keeping plenty of clean sheets again.

Ultimately the onus is on the home side to attack in this one though and that does being a few interesting alternative angles from a betting perspective. 

The more generic markets such as the win-draw-win or the over and unders goals are very tricky to nail down. If Chelsea take an early lead it’s all but over but if Lille score in the first half it could make things interesting. However, with Chelsea being so strong defensively it’s hard to see how often Lille breakthrough into dangerous positions in the box.

One thing Thomas Tuchel may do is just sit back and not let Lille do what they want to do and counter attack. This could mean a fair bit of the game is played in Lille’s attacking half with them putting the pressure on but failing to really break through. 

Given Chelsea don’t necessarily have to attack the 15/8 on Lille to have the most corners in the match looks the best way to eek a bit of value out of a very roughing betting heat.