Real Betis v Chelsea prediction: Blues to clinch Europa Conference League crown | OneFootball

Chelsea travel to Poland on Wednesday to face Real Betis in the Europa League Conference Final, looking for their first trophy since 2021, when they won the Champions League.

It was hard to imagine then that their next trophy would be the third tier of Uefa competition, but it is a trophy nonetheless and would cap a pretty solid first season in charge for Enzo Maresca.

The Italian replaced Mauricio Pochettino in the summer and guided them to a top-four finish for the first time in three years and they go into the game with seven wins from their last eight games.

They have also won 11 of their last 12 games in the competition proper. Their only defeat came at the quarter-final stage when they were beaten 2-1 at home to Legia Warsaw in the second leg, but won the tie thanks to the 3-0 win in Poland.

They topped the group stage of the tournament with a maximum of 18 points from their six games played, 14 places and eight points clear of Betis.

The Spanish side, managed by former Man City and West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini, finished sixth in La Liga and go into the game without a win in their last five, so it’s no surprise that the football betting sites all have the English side as the favourites.

Chelsea are just 9/10 for the win, while you can get 15/4 on the Spanish side and 13/5 on a draw after 90 minutes in the latest Europa Conference League odds, which seems highly unlikely with Chelsea drawing just nine of their 56 games, and they will want this one wrapped up as quickly as possible.

The fact that Chelsea could afford to rest key players in the early stages of this competition, in fact, they didn’t even register Cole Palmer for the league stage, and that Manchester United and Tottenham reached the final of the Europa League despite their poor league finishes shows just how strong the Premier League is compared to the rest of Europe.

Real Betis vs Chelsea betting tips: Betis to be no match for Chelsea

Barring that defeat against Legia, Chelsea have made easy work of everyone they have played, scoring 38 goals in their 12 games in the competition, making them unsurprisingly the competition's top scorers.

They have also conceded just nine goals and have kept the joint highest number of clean sheets with five, along with NK Olimpija Ljubljana and Wednesday’s opponents. They also have clean sheets in their last two Premier League games and expect another shutout on Wednesday.

Betis have won just half of their matches in the competition, drawing three and losing the other four, including against Mlada Boleslav and Gent.

They are searching for their first-ever Uefa trophy, while for Chelsea, a win on Wednesday would be their ninth!

They have already won the Champions League, Europa League, Uefa Cup Winners' Cup and Uefa Super Cup, so lifting the Conference League would complete the set.

As we already know, goals have not been a problem this season, but guessing who might feature at the Tarczyński Arena might be.

Nicolas Jackson is back in contention after missing the last two games of the Premier League season, following his sending off against Newcastle, and he has two goals from his two games played and would love the chance to add to that tally.

The goals have been neatly spread around, thanks largely to the mix of players who have featured so far. Marc Guiu is the team’s top scorer with six goals in his six appearances, but he has not played a first-team game since injuring an abductor in the 2-1 win over West Ham at the beginning of February. He was an unused substitute in Sunday’s win over Nottingham Forest, so could make the squad.

Christopher Nkunku has scored five in his nine appearances, but he could miss the match with the injury suffered in training just before the semi-final against Djurgarden.

Betting sites have Jackson at 6/1 to score first or last and 21/10 to find the target any time, something he has done 12 times this season, including twice in the semi-final first leg. He will also be fresh after his self-inflicted recent absence.

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