Chelsea better Capital One Cup bet than fellow favourites Man Utd

There are three co-favourites to win the Capital One Cup after the draw for the fourth round and Manchester United certainly look the worst bet of the trio at 5/1.

Man Utd progressed to this stage with a home win over Newcastle and picked a particularly strong attacking unit of Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez.

The draw could not have been much more unkind to the Red Devils as they will have to travel to fellow 5/1 shots Chelsea next and Stamford Bridge has not been the happiest hunting ground for them in the last decade.

Chelsea have only lost two home games to Sir Alex Ferguson’s men since 1999, a Premier League meeting in 2002 and a Champions League clash last year when Rooney grabbed the only goal.

Even though it is perhaps the toughest draw they could have encountered, it is unlikely that Sir Alex will bring back his biggest guns.

Meanwhile, Man Utd could in fact be weaker than against Newcastle, as Rooney was only really playing to gain some match sharpness after injury.

By the time the fourth round is upon us, Rooney should be back as a key component in the first team and with the Capital One Cup being the fourth priority of Man Utd this season, he will be rested for bigger evenings.

With home advantage, Chelsea must be favourites and based on the third round, they are liable to field a stronger side throughout the competition.

This must make them the better bets to win the Capital One Cup at this stage, with Arsenal the other club priced at 5/1 following the draw, where they travel to Reading.

Arsenal did triumph at the Madejski in their two Premier League visits and Arsene Wenger was another manager to field a strong attacking line-up in the third round.

Theo Walcott, Andrei Arshavin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all started in the 6-1 drubbing of Coventry and this is a competition where Wenger has typically fielded players without first-team experience in the past.

However, with Arsenal’s trophy wait now close to eight years, Wenger may see this as his best chance of silverware this season.

All odds and markets correct as of publication