Chelsea dark horses to claim Premier League’s best away record

Chelsea’s acquisition of Demba Ba could make them a strong outside contender for the Premier League’s best away record.

The Blues can be backed at long odds of 13/2 to finish the season as the best travellers in the division and a reinforced front line is only going to improve the chances of them achieving this.

It’s highly unlikely that Rafa Benitez is going to guide the west London outfit to a fourth Premier League crown this year, yet having the best away record has had little to do with winning the title in recent seasons. The richest prize in English football is won at home, as Manchester United’s 2010-11 campaign will attest.

In fact, only one winner of the Premier League in the previous seven seasons has claimed the best record on the road to boot and with the Blues’ efforts away from home only five points shy of United’s – who have accrued the most points on their travels thus far – having played a game fewer, they’re in with a chance of overhauling the Red Devils in the away form standings, at least.

They’re in with a much better chance of achieving the feat now Ba is on board. They played themselves into contention with just one striker; one who was frequently chastised for his sub-par performances and lack of goals at that.

Now they’ve snared the highly sought after Senegalese goal-machine to share the workload, theoretically, they stand a far greater chance of winning matches. He’s bagged eight of his 15 goals this term on the road and wasted no time getting off the Chelsea mark with a brace in their FA Cup mauling of Southampton at the weekend.

The obvious negative with regards to lumping on this bet is the fact that the Blues still have to make two trips to Manchester in the second half of the campaign where two defeats are forecast, while United have already visited all of the Premier League’s big guns (aside from Tottenham, though they always win at White Hart Lane anyway) so are in for a much easier ride on the road in 2013.

However, they have been conceding goals with alarming regularity and unless this changes, with their FA Cup draw at West Ham suggesting it won’t any time soon, more dropped away points are certain to ensue and Chelsea are the most likely to take advantage in regards to attaining a payout in this market.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date