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After a disastrous career spell at Chelsea, ex-Liverpool scoring star of previous seasons Fernando Torres has been released by Chelsea who will be prepared to take a loss on the mis-firing striker. Torres never found his feet or indeed his scoring boots at Chelsea, and it seems the label of most expensive footballer EVER, was just too much pressure for a player who was already actually on a bit of a downturn in form in his later days at Liverpool. The heights of his debut season at Liverpool with a 33 goal tally and regular spell binding incisive killer instinct on display, in the later Roy Hodgson days Torres waned until the self-off to Chelsea, at that time in need of a world class striker to end reliance on Didier Drogba, and the £50M (yes, five-zero million - sounds like a bankers bonus doesn’t it) price tag was happily paid by Messrs Abramovich and Co, convinced this would lead them to Premisership and Champions League success. But how differently it ended.

Get the latest Odds on Fernando Torres at Ladbrokes

So, fast forward to December 2011 and Nando is up for sale estimated £20M this time if that, and SKYBET are the first bookmaker to bring out odds on which club he’ll go to. So far Athetico Madrid are favourites to give the wounded Spanish hero and International veteran a peaceful home for some convalescence. They are at odds of 5/1, also Malaga at 5/1, then Real Madrid at 7’s and surprisingly perhaps the odds for him to return to next Liverpool at 12/1 - there’s a precedent for successful returns of course with Bellamy now looking sharp as ever under King Kenny, but surely for Torres himself the humiliation would be too much - or would it..? 12/1 seems about right though, but as a boyhood Kop fan back in Spain you can’t rule it out.

Well, as City odds drift in title race (Manchester City are out to 8/1 from 13/2 to win the Premier League title after defeat to Sunderland at the stadium of light), Chelsea are looking runaway favourites already, just a few games into teh season. But wait a minute? 2/1 for Man United? Are they just going to roll over already? I think not. Class from Berbatov, Nanni, Rooney, not forgetting the geriatric but athletic Giggs & Scholes means there’s no reason on earth why money down on Man U wouldn’t be a good investment. Man United are solid as a rock under Fergie: I see Chelsea as much more likely to wobble: Lamps and Tezza have injuries already, it only takes a Drogba injury or wife swapping scandal, and for Anelka to go on a 3 month sulk, as we know he can do, and Man United are suddenly gifted the title. So Get On, and double your money? I think so. At William Hill currently Chelsea are 6/5 favourites with 2/1 Man U; 5/1 Arsenal; 20/1 Liverpool; 40/1 Spurs;125/1.

Get on at WIlliam Hill.com!

It’s a golden opportunity for Chelsea to open up some daylight between themselves and their closest challengers. Will United cooperate? Ladbrokes odds are as follows:

There’s more than six points at stake on Sunday
A win for Chelsea will open up a five-point gap on United, a win for United will send them top of the table. United, however, will be without their first choice centre backs Ferdinand and Vidic. The press are shaking their heads at United’s struggle to adapt to a post-Ronaldo world and they haven’t won at Chelsea since April 2004, by far their longest win drought on their travels around the Premier League.

Chelsea have constructed an impregnable defence at home

* Since Stephen Hunt scored for Hull in the 28th minute on opening day, no one has scored against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in four league games, two Champions League games and two Carling Cup games. (Chelsea 1-0 is 7/1, Chelsea 2-0 is 8/1)

And they are scoring goals for fun

* Much has been made of Arsenal’s intense dedication to goalscoring this season, but Chelsea have only scored four fewer in the league (28 to 32).

Lampard reckons Drogba and Anelka are “the best in the world”

* Chelsea have had four come-from-behind league wins this season, so are not always first on the score sheet. Drogba is outscoring Anelka massively (9-3 in the league), but in seven league games in which Chelsea have scored first, each has opened the scoring twice.
(First scorer: Drogba is 5/1, Anelka is 7/1. Anytime scorer: Drogba is 6/4, Anelka is 9/4)

United have only a makeshift defence to cope with them

* In the absence of Ferdinand and Vidic, Wes Brown and Johnny Evans will stand in. They have played together just twice in the league this season, including United’s 1-0 defeat at Burnley.

But watch out! Even without Ronaldo, United are better than they were last year.

* At this stage last season United had fewer points (21, compared to their current 25), and had scored fewer goals (20 then, 23 now). They still went on to win the title.
(Man Utd 1-0 is 7/1, Man Utd 2-0 is 10/1)

Extra time
Darren Bent returns to White Hart Lane for the first time since joining Sunderland. He has scored the first goal six times this season and is 8/1 to do so against his former club. Wolves haven’t beaten Arsenal since 1979 and the Gunners are 16/1 to come away from Molineux with a 4-0 victory. Portsmouth travel to Blackburn and it’s 11/2 for these two relegation threatened clubs to scrape a 1-1 draw.

Get on now at Ladbrokes.com !

After a less-than-refreshing international break, Chelsea take their table-topping form to one of the tightest teams in the league – Aston Villa.

A tale of two defences…
Martin O’Neill has hosted Carlo Ancelotti once in his career – a 0-0 draw against AC Milan in the Champions League when he was at Celtic. Chelsea won at Villa Park last year (0-1) in Guus Hiddink’s first game as manager, the first time Chelsea had won at Villa since 1999 (Mourinho famously never won there). The key thing to note? Not many goals…

Villa are unfashionably low scorers

• In a season when the big teams have gone goal crazy - the top eight teams without Aston Villa have scored an average of 19 goals each - Villa have only managed 10. (Aston Villa 1-0 is 8/1 at Ladbrokes)

But their defence is equally mean

• Only Newcastle and Leeds have conceded fewer goals than Villa’s six in all four divisions. Only one other team in the Premier League has kept an equally tight defence – visitors Chelsea.
  (0-0 is 8/1 at Ladbrokes)

This fixture is traditionally low-scoring

• In 17 games since the Premier League began in 1992 this fixture has produced fewer than 2.5 goals on 12 occasions. (1-1 is 11/2 at Ladbrokes)

And Chelsea may well be a little jaded

• Both teams are packed with internationals, but Drogba, Essien, Mikel and Kalou will all have had longer than average flights back from their African duties.

Extra time
Man Utd have won their last three meetings with Bolton and are 5/1 to win 2-0 like they did at Old Trafford last season. Tottenham have won two of their four away games this season while Portsmouth have lost all their home games. Spurs are 25/1 to win 2-0 with Crouch scoring first. Arsenal scored six in their last game and their opponents Birmingham have lost their last two. The Gunners are 25/1 to win 6-0 at Ladbrokes.

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