Betting Tips for Today: Goals unlikely to flow between Chelsea and Nottingham Forest

Chelsea will begin the defence of their FA Cup crown at Stamford Bridge against Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon.

888Sport expect a home win here, pricing the Blues at just 1/5 (1.20) to come out on top in normal time against their Championship opponents.

The visitors though, have proved a tricky test for reigning FA Cup champions, knocking the holders out of the competition on five of the previous six occasions that they'd faced them.

The most recent example came last season when Arsenal were beaten 4-2 at the City Ground but Forest are 15/1 (16.0) to emerge victorious in West London this weekend. A draw would mean a replay in the East Midlands and that's available at 21/4 (6.20) with 888Sport.

Getty Images

The likelihood of some rotation makes backing the hosts a tricky proposition, especially at such a short price. Instead, it could pay dividends to side with this to be a low-scoring game in keeping with a recent run of results involving Sarri's team.

Chelsea have seen only one of their previous five matches feature over 2.5 goals. Defensively the Blues have looked solid but going forward the lack of an out-and-out striker looks to be telling on the results.

Eden Hazard has been deployed in that role on occasion this term but the Belgium international could well be rested, having played four full games in the past two weeks.

Aitor Karanka appears to be under pressure from the Forest hierarchy, although a 4-2 win over league leaders Leeds on New Year's Day may ease the tension that had been building in recent weeks.

Getty

That high-scoring result aside, Forest have been involved in plenty of low-scoring games themselves of late. Since the start of November, the Championship side have played 11 times in the second tier and under 2.5 goals has landed in eight of those.

It must be said that those that went over 2.5 goals contained some incredible score lines including a 5-5 draw against Aston Villa but on the whole ,Forest's matches have been much tighter than the odd eye-catching result suggests.

With plenty of potential for rotation from both teams there could be a lack of fluidity. As such, backing another match featuring no more than two goals at 6/4 (2.50) with 888Sport appears a solid selection for Saturday's clash at Stamford Bridge.

888Sport