Chelsea v Hull City Betting Tips: Perfect game for Costa to return to the fore

This Premier League match sees runaway leaders Chelsea host struggling Hull City in what could be a bit of a goal-fest for the hosts.

Although Chelsea’s 13-match winning streak in the league came to an abrupt end against Tottenham Hotspur a couple of weeks ago, the Blues have shown that they are still the team to beat and have recovered to win their last two games in all competitions in convincing fashion.

Defence is still the basis of Chelsea’s good form with their record of just 15 goals conceded in 21 games which is an average of 0.7 goals per game. Additionally, they have managed to keep 12 clean sheets this season – three more than their closest pursuers Tottenham, despite conceding one more goal overall than their London rivals.

Rumours have been abound that Diego Costa is set to move to China but it seems that the Spanish international and Premier League’s top goalscorer will be back for Chelsea’s match against Hull City this weekend. The former Atletico Madrid man is the focus of an excellent Blues attack which has found the back of the net an incredible 45 times this season. Furthermore, in four of their last five matches they have scored at least three goals.

As expected, Chelsea’s home record has been astonishing and they have only failed to win at Stamford Bridge once in all competitions this season. The Blues’ last two home games have seen them score four goals in each and so it looks like it could be a tough afternoon for a Hull City side who are poor at the back.

Hull went left field with their latest managerial appointment when they chose Marco Silva in an attempt to try and escape the relegation trap door. So far the Portuguese has done pretty well and has overseen his side win two of his three matches in charge in all competitions, helping them climb up to 18th, finding themselves in the relegation zone only on goal difference.

As mentioned earlier, defence has been the biggest problem for the Tigers this season with their record of 45 conceded the second worst in the league and only better than bottom side Swansea City whilst they have only kept two clean sheets in all competitions this season. Unfortunately, they do not really have the forward line to balance it out with their ‘Goals For’ total reading a paltry 20. The signing of Oumar Niasse this window may help alleviate those problems but going up against Chelsea is hardly the ideal fixture to start improving your goal record.

A further dampener on Silva’s side is their away record. The former Olympiacos manager has only managed one away game so far and that was an understandable defeat at Manchester United and so it will be interesting to see if their form on the road does improve under the new boss. It certainly cannot get much worse with Hull’s away record before Silva’s arrival reading six consecutive losses. However, once again, a match at Stamford Bridge is hardly where you expect this to turn around.

Chelsea are the favourites here and for obvious reasons. Naturally, there is little value to be had on the more conventional markets; however, ‘Diego Costa to Score & Chelsea to win 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0’ makes plenty of appeal. It’s certainly not hard to see the fiery striker hitting back with a bang in this fixture, while any of three scorelines offered would raise no eyebrows whatsoever.

See more Premier League tips here.