FA Cup Final - Chelsea Vs Everton

An epic domestic season reaches its climax this Saturday with the FA Cup final between Everton and Chelsea. Buyers of Chelsea’s outright index spread at the start of the tournament will be pleased to see the current outright spread at 89-91pts (100pts for winner, 70 pts for runner-up), and would love to see Hiddink rewarded with a victory for his part in turning the Blues’ season around. With Chelsea’s match win index spread at 16-17.5pts (25pts for match win, 10pts for draw) and Everton’s at just 6-7.5pts, spread bettors are left in no doubt as to which team is favourite for the match. Buyers of Everton’s win index spread will be pleased that Steven Pienaar and Phil Neville have both been passed fit, while buyers of Chelsea’s spread will be happy to see Frank Lampard rested and back in the team.

Both buyers and sellers of the supremacy spread, set at 0.7-0.9 in favour of Chelsea, should remember that just two of the ten previous finals have been settled by penalties, although these were both in the last four years (2005 and 2006). Supremacy spread bettors will also like to know that since 1999, a single goal or less has separated the teams in seven of the last ten finals. The largest winning margin in this time is three goals, in 2004; the largest winning margin ever in an FA Cup final is four goals. Sellers of the supremacy spread might like to know who was on the receiving end of that rout – none other than Chelsea, against Manchester United in 1994.

Regarding experience in an FA Cup final, The Toffees have made an impressive 12 appearances compared to Chelsea’s eight since the tournament began. Chelsea last won just two years ago, and sellers of the total goals spread at 2.1 might remember they only grabbed the trophy in extra-time, after finishing normal time without a goal. The same spread sellers will be gladly aware that Chelsea and Everton’s two meetings in the league this season were both goalless, but buyers of the spread need not panic - the last time they met in the FA Cup, in a fourth round replay at Stamford Bridge, the outcome was 4-1 to Chelsea. Those spread bettors looking to get involved in the goals market should also note the highest scoring game ever, back in 1953, where Blackpool defeated Bolton 4-3.

During the last ten FA Cup finals there have been a total of 19 goals scored in normal time, with an average of 1.9 goals per game, which should suggest a sell of total goals to spread punters. But maybe buyers will be impressed that only two finals have failed to produce a goal and the most goals to be scored is six, in that extraordinary final three years ago when Steven Gerrard scored in injury time to level at 3-3 with West Ham. For the interest of any <a onClick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href="http://www.sportingindex.com/spread-betting/football-uk-roi/">football spread bettors</a> looking at the total goal minutes spread, at 108-118 for Saturday’s tie, the goal minutes make-up in the 2006 final was a jaw dropping 291. Sporting Index’s traders were even more upset than the Hammers’ then manager Alan Pardew.