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It may well be true that the F.A. Cup has lost some of it’s appeal given the financial edge which the Champions League now holds over football but the F.A. Cup Final itself is still the biggest day in football & one that grabs the attention of the whole nation & indeed millions across the world.

Football is unique for providing scenarios where teams with directly opposite situations can meet & have an equal chance to win prizes & a shot at glory and without doubt the F.A. Cup has been & always will be the best competition for doing just that.

This years Final of Chelsea vs Portsmouth is the perfect example of how two teams with completely different set-ups in terms of finance, scale, quality of players, strength of squad & overall profile can clash for 90 minutes to try to win a trophy & it really is a remarkable story.

Chelsea are owned & funded by a billionaire, they have just won the Premier League, scoring 100+ goals & possess a team & squad full of world class, international players who would get into most teams throughout world football.

Portsmouth are financially right on the brink of going completely bust, having incredible, outrageous debts that seem impossible to manage & come into this F.A. Cup Final having been relegated & with a squad with no real stars & only a smattering of quality.

So compare the two scenarios of both Chelsea & Portsmouth and it seems that the F.A. Cup Final will be a foregone conclusion & that Chelsea can already be declared winners as there looks no viable way for Portsmouth to overpower & beat Chelsea.

The bookies agree with that & quote Chelsea at 1/6 to win in 90 minutes while Portsmouth are 12/1 to do the same & when you consider the recent form of both sides then those odds look fair & in the case of Chelsea it’s one of those cases where long odds-on still represents value.

The two league games that Chelsea & Portsmouth clashed in this season saw Chelsea win both with an aggregate of 7 goals to 1 including the 5-0 victory for Chelsea at Portsmouth & to be fair it could have been a whole lot more than 5 goals that night so it does not look good for Portsmouth.

In fact, Chelsea have scored 30 goals in 8 matches since that night giving them 7 wins from 8 including very impressive wins over Man United & Liverpool, plus amazing goalscoring wins against Aston Villa when they won 7-1, Stoke City whom they beat 7-0 & Wigan whom they beat 8-0.

Chelsea have tremendous quality & strength right through the team with Cech once again in top form in goal, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Ashley Cole providing great quality in defence to give a great platform for the likes of Lampard, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka, Kalou, Ballack & Joe Cole to create & score the goals and to be honest, Chelsea look absolutely unbeatable right now.

The quality & confidence within the Chelsea squad is so high right now & with the opportunity to create history for the club & win their first League/F.A. Cup double, we really cannot see Chelsea failing to win this & win it well.

Portsmouth’s season has been an incredible & incredulous story with all desperate situation regarding the owners & of course their out of control financial problems that leave the club hanging by the thread.

Football wise, the season has been obviously greatly affected by the financial situation & Avram Grant’s side simply did not have the quality & quantity in terms of squad depth to have any chance of surviving and relegation looked certain right from the early weeks of the season.

All of that does make the fact Portsmouth have reached another F.A. Cup Final an incredible story with them having won it a couple of years ago, the fact they overcame Tottenham to win the Semi Final & the ironic twist of Avram Grant coming up against the team he used to manage.

Portsmouth do deserve great credit for the effort, commitment & determination they have shown to earn their place in the Final & of course anything is possible on the day but it really would be the biggest shock of all if Portsmouth pulled this win off.

The truth is that Portsmouth simply do not have the quality to match up against Chelsea & while they will be committed & put in great effort, Chelsea are so strong, have so much quality & in such great form that anything other than a comfortable Chelsea win would be a massive shock & Chelsea look absolute bankers to win & complete an historic League/F.A. Cup double.

Betting Recommendations:

Outright Match Result: Chelsea to win

Correct Score options: Chelsea to win 2-0/3-0

First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Lampard/Drogba/Anelka

Scorecast options: Lampard/Drogba/Anelka score 1st & Chelsea win 2-0/3-0

Double Result: Chelsea H/T & F/T