Leicester City v Chelsea Betting Tips

This is the only all-Premier League EFL Cup tie on Tuesday and therefore garners the most interest. Although I doubt the match will be played at Premier League pace, I think we should still be in for a good match between these two good teams. How seriously either side takes the competition is another issue.

Leicester had a dodgy start to their season but are now back to form after two 3-0 wins on the bounce. First on their Champions League debut away at Brugge before inflicting defeat on newly-promoted Burnley.

Islam Slimani has taken to the Foxes like a duck to water. He looked very impressive in the win against Brugge and then bagged himself a brace at the weekend with an even better performance against the Clarets. The Algerian international has a sensational goal record in 2016 – almost a goal a game in league competition.

It will be interesting to see if the former Sporting Lisbon striker is given more game time against Chelsea or allowed to rest after his weekend exploits.

I am not sure how seriously Foxes manager Claudio Ranieri will take the League Cup this season. The club are so focused on ensuring progress in the Premier League, as well as doing well in their maiden Champions League campaign, I doubt the Italian will worry too much about the League Cup.

With no Champions League football at Chelsea this season, we will find out on Tuesday whether manager Antonio Conte takes the League Cup seriously in order to have a second front for silverware this season. With the Premier League title and entry back into Champions League football and absolute priority this season, I have my doubts.

Having said that, a weakened Chelsea side would still be able to compete at Premier League level with the likes of Asmir Begovic in goal and Michy Batshuayi up front. We should also see a debut for new signing Marcos Alonso.

Given the two teams have other priorities this season, I do not think either side will go at this match hammer and tong, which of course makes it quite difficult to predict. This match really could go either way and I am not sure if it is worth backing a winner here.

I think the most obvious market to look at in this one is goalscorers. You can guess which fringe players will play for either side and it is easy to see the quality of some of them. One of those is Belgian international Michy Batshuayi.

The 22-year-old has not played in the Premier League as much as he would have liked (being used as a late substitute) but did score two in Chelsea’s previous EFL Cup outing against Bristol Rovers. I would certainly look at backing the Belgian scoring against a possibly weakened Leicester defence at 17/10.

A second goalscorer I would go for is certainly a bit more risky but the rewards are worth it at 23/4. Winger Demarai Gray is one of the hottest English talents in the country and Leicester managed to pull off a coup by securing his services for under £4m from Birmingham City last January.

He is not a regular starter in the Premier League for the Foxes but I would expect him to start on Tuesday. He is a winger who plays on the left before cutting in and unleashing ferocious shots on his right foot. He will cause Chelsea’s right back, whoever that may be, a lot of trouble in this match and may well find himself on the score-sheet.

The 20-year-old is very level headed and will certainly see this as another opportunity to put himself into Ranieri’s thoughts. After all, until this point, he has always impressed when playing for a significant amount of time.

See all of Tuesday’s tips here.