Chelsea v Rubin Kazan Prediction 4th April 2013

Chelsea v Rubin Kazan Betting Preview
The Blues will be hoping to round off a busy week of action with another success. After resting players for a Premier League defeat at Southampton, 48 hours later they were beating Man United in the FA Cup quarter final. Now they switch to European duty as they continue their quest to make a clean sweep of major UEFA club titles. They are heavy favourites, but the Russians have been showing some good away form of late.

Chelsea v Rubin Kazan Betting Odds at online bookmaker Ladbrokes
Chelsea 1/2, Draw 3/1, Rubin Kazan 6/1

Chelsea v Rubin Kazan Recommended Bet:
This is the first meeting between the two sides, but the Bleus have recorded good form in their limited match ups with Russian sides. They have taken four wins from four against Russian sides (two at home and two away), and in those four matches, they have only conceded one goal as well. Starting at home, they should take some ascendancy here. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are on an 11 match unbeaten streak in Europe, not having lost there since Man United beat then in the 2010/11 Champions League quarter finals.

There has also been a great return in front of goal from the Blues as well in those eleven matches, having scored 32 at just under a rate of three per game. They are unbeaten in six UEFA Cup/Europa League matches at the Bridge as well, never having lost in this competition. It is fair to say that Chelsea really haven’t performed in Europe at all this season, but still they are favourites to win the tournament outright. A clean sheet on Thursday night and they’ll probably have one foot in the semi finals. Chelsea have to place big importance on the first leg, as Kazan have lost just three of their last 22 European matches on home soil.

This is the debut that Rubin are making in the quarter finals of a major UEFA tournament. They have been to London just once before, losing at Spurs in the 2011/12 Europa League group stage. They have found their feet away from home though recently, having posted a run of five matches unbeaten in Europe. They are on a trend as well, of DWDWD, so if that continues, then they should be posting a win at Stamford Bridge. The Russians do have their threats, both up front and thanks to a tight defence.

They have scored first in seven of their 10 Europa League matches this season. Striker Salomon Rondon had has fired off more shots than anyone else in the competition, and is second highest scorer. Defensively they have only conceded four goals in the competition so far, and that has come with seven clean sheets in their ten games. As a word of caution, they knocked out reigning champions Atletico Madrid on their way to the quarter finals. However, the tie will all hinge on this first leg as they have won just two of their last nineteen away games outside of Russia.

Stat Attack

Rubin have kept 7 clean sheets in 10 Europa League matches this season
Rubin have won just two of 19 European games outside of Russia
Chelsea are unbeaten at Stamford Bridge in 11 European matches
Chelsea have won four out of four previous matches against Russian opponents

Online bookmaker Promotion
On all live televised matches this week, online betting site Ladbrokes are running a great live in-running betting promotion. If there is a red card in the match, then the bookie will refund losing Correct Score and Next Goalscorer bets that have been placed in-play from kick off until the red card is shown. There have been four red cards in Kazan’s last four games. Online bookmaker Ladbrokes offer up to £30 in free bets for new customers registering an account with them.