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Chelsea v Middlesbrough: Patience may be the key for the home side

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Richard Walker talks us through the main betting markets on Betfair as Chelsea look to put pressure on Man Utd for the title race by getting three points ay home to Middlesbrough

Gareth Southgate's pre-match press conference for this game ended up centred more around the pressures referees are under when officiating 'Big Four' clubs, rather than the game itself. The fact he's readily babbling on about whistle-blowers rather than wingers kind of tells you he'd rather deflect any attention from this game.

It's a natural trait for a manager to protect his players' pride before a likely fall - and I think the omens suggest Middlesbrough could be in for a tough afternoon. At [13.5] to back, so do layers on Betfair! The draw is a [5.5] shot while the Chelsea home win, in front of an expectant Stamford Bridge crowd, can be backed at [1.34].

That said, Southgate's Teessiders can prove troublesome at times - take their 1-1 at Arsenal a fortnight ago, for example - and they don't ship loads of goals (the fewest of any bottom-10 club in point of fact) so the Half Time/Full Time market is one my eye was drawn to for this fixture, with Draw/Chelsea very backable at [4.6]. The Blues' tried and tested method of pressurising sides on their own patch - 10 wins and five draws from 15 home games is testament to that - but it does occasionally take a while for the formula to come to boiling point.

Boro will be without the suspended duo of influential midfielder Fabio Rochemback and striker Mido. Also likely to miss out is centre-half Robert Huth, thanks to a foot injury, however Luke Young's a more likely starter despite a hamstring complaint. As far as Middlesbrough's chances go, that's a pretty big dent quite frankly. They haven't got a massive squad and would count Rochemback and Mido, in particular, as key men.

Come this nitty-gritty part of the season, I suspect you'll find the published Chelsea doubtfuls of John Terry (hamstring) and Frank Lampard (illness, which exonerated him from part of the blame for England's feeble showing) taking their place among the starting XI. Let's face it, players like these two just don't miss matches with only a handful of fixtures left.

Taking the team news on board only strengthens my view that Chelsea will (perhaps patiently) break the visitors down. They're on the longest unbeaten run in the Premiership - 14 matches - and there's no doubt the massive win over Arsenal last weekend will have injected just a fluid ounce or two more adrenalin into the veins of the title-chasing west Londoners.

So what other options are there? Plenty. Under 2.5 goals can be backed at [1.95] and I tend to think it'll be that sort of game, given Boro's penchant for low-scoring affairs. It's [2.04] to go with the Overs if you disagree. Two-nil to the hosts would be my idea of a scoreline, paying around [6.2], with the cover of 1-0 at [7.0] a sensible addition. And with Boro's attacking options devoid of too much creativity and guile, consider the [1.79] to back a Blues' clean sheet.

If it is to be a game that takes the genial Avram Grant's side until into the second half to get their noses in front, then the play could be to cover some relevant time bands in the First Goal Odds market. I'd tend towards 41-50 minutes, priced at [8.4], but 51-60 minutes - for the more patient - is as much as around [13.0] to back.

The north-east outfit have won just three away from the Riverside this term, with only Portsmouth above them in the table having hosted a Boro victory. Bottom-two clubs Derby and Fulham played host to the other wins. Ergo, it's hard to see past a home win - but it may take Terry and his boys a while to get the job done.