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Rafael Benitez's men suffered a disappointing defeat against Manchester City last weekend but Willie Duncan is backing the Blues to bounce back with victory at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea’s hopes of securing a top-four finish in the Premier League were dealt another blow last weekend when the Blues crashed to a 2-0 defeat against Manchester City.

Despite a midweek win over Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, Rafael Benitez’s men will be desperate to get their challenge for a Champions League qualification berth back on track when they welcome West Bromwich Albion to Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

The west London club have won just two of their last six league matches and after Benitez's post-match comments on Wednesday tensions seem to be running high at Stamford Bridge. Despite that, Chelsea are rated as warm favourites at 4/11 (1.36) with Paddy Power to collect all three points against West Brom this weekend.

The Baggies, of course, are now under the stewardship of former Chelsea assistant manager Steve Clarke and Paddy Power go 8/1 (9.0) that the Scot leads his charges to victory over his former employers while the same firm offer 15/4 (4.75) that the match ends in stalemate.

West Brom will come into the match with some belief, having recorded back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since December by beating both Liverpool and Sunderland respectively in recent weeks.

This task, though, looks tougher for the Baggies and, with just one clean sheet in 12 matches for Steve Clarke’s men, Chelsea will be keen to get amongst the goals here.

The Blues drew a blank at Etihad Stadium last weekend but scored an impressive 16 goals in six league matches prior to that so the even money (2.0) quote from Paddy Power for Chelsea (-1) in the handicap market offers plenty of appeal here and should be snapped up accordingly.

Those looking to back bigger prices may be tempted by Paddy Power’s first goalscorer market.

Frank Lampard may have missed from the penalty spot in Chelsea’s defeat against Manchester City last weekend but the midfielder has scored seven goals for the Blues since the turn of the year, including four in his last five league outings and, so, the 5/1 (6.0) quote from Paddy Power for Lampard to score the opening goal of the game looks to represent outstanding value here.

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Chelsea (-1) to win at even money (2.0) with Paddy Power

Frank Lampard to score first at 5/1 (6.0) with Paddy Power

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Willie Duncan is a freelance sports journalist. Willie, from Edinburgh, has covered Scottish football for over 10 years and he specialises in football betting markets from across Europe. You can also follow Willie on Twitter

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