Chelsea head into this match in excellent form, they’ve won their last four matches and are unbeaten in their previous four home matches too, following their opening day defeat to Man City.

Needless to say, they emerge as strong favourites here against the Belgians, who themselves have made a strong start to their campaign. They sit in 3rd place in the table, 6 points away from Genk at the top, however, with the beaming quality in Chelsea’s frontline, the Blues should have far too much for their opponents here.

Following on from the above pick, we are also taking Chelsea to be ahead at the break. This pick has won in Chelsea’s last three matches, and they’ve scored 8 first half goals in that time.

They’ll be keen to make a fast start here and put their opponents under pressure, this selection looks excellent value at the current odds, especially considering the Blues’ price to win the match.

Goals look to be on the agenda here. 5 of Chelsea’s last 7 matches have seen this pick come in – with ease as well. The Blues have won 6-2 at Wolves, 5-0 against Barrow and 4-2 against Brighton in recent weeks.

Likewise, Gent have established themselves to be regular scorers. The Belgian’s have seen over 2.5 goals in their previous three matches, as well as in four of their last five. Gent will know they’ll probably need to get on the scoresheet here to have any chance of taking a positive result back home, which could lead to a wide open contest.

Chelsea notched 8 corners against Brighton last time out, and as big favourites here, are likely to put Gent under considerable defensive pressure.

The Blues also recorded 8 in their match prior to the Brighton win at home to Barrow, and look primed to hit at least 6 once again here. Gent conceded 7 corners to Oud-Heverlee Leuven at the weekend, 6 in defeat to Cercle Brugge before that and a huge 11 to Club Brugge prior to that match, meaning that the Belgian’s are averaging 8 corners conceded per game over the last three matches.

We’ve already mentioned Chelsea’s ability to score goals, which makes them look excellent value in the -1 handicap market. This pick has won in their last three matches, as well as in thee of their last four at Stamford Bridge.

On the basis of expecting a high-scoring affair, and with Chelsea possessing considerably higher quality attackers, it’d be no surprise to see them triumph by a couple of goals here.

Chelsea have scored 23 goals in 9 matches this season, an average of 2.55 per game. Meanwhile, the Blues’ home matches average a total goals tally of 3.40 this term.

Gent have netted 31 times in 15 matches across all competitions, with their matches averaging 3.0 total goals per game. With both teams’ ability in attacking areas, notably the hosts’, this looks a big price for there to be four or more goals here.

Gent have collected 33 yellow cards in 15 games, averaging 2.2 per match. Gent’s fixtures have been consistently physical, with only one game this season passing without a yellow card.

The Belgian’s average 11 fouls committed per game in their domestic league so far this term, and with referee Daniel Schlager overseeing the game, who averages 4 cards per match, the stage is set for the visitors to be on the receiving end of a few cards. This could turn into a contest where Chelsea pull away from the visitors, which will insight frustration, hopefully in the form of fouls.

Chelsea are averaging 10.11 total corners per game across all competitions this season, six out of their nine matches have hit the 10 or more corner mark.

Gent follow a similar pattern, ranked 12th in their domestic league with an average of 10.22 total match corners this season. Given both teams’ corner averages and the frequency with which they exceed nine corners in matches, the likelihood of this happening again is strong.