Wrexham – Chelsea

The opponents will score at least three goals.

Judging by what's been happening with Wrexham in recent years, one of the club's co-owners, Ryan Reynolds, is filming another blockbuster. In the leading roles, Phil Parkinson and his players. The former Sunderland manager took the Welsh side in the summer of 2021, when Wrexham were playing in the fifth-tier division of the English football pyramid. By the end of the next season, Wrexham won the National League, after which they finished second in League Two, and last season finished second in League One. Thus, in 4.5 years the Welsh club has been promoted three times, and by the end of Parkinson's fifth year could break into the Premier League. For Chelsea's new manager, appointed two months ago, the FA Cup is a special tournament. It is in this competition that Liam Rosenior made his debut as Chelsea's head coach. Since then Chelsea advanced through two rounds of the cup, beating Charlton and Hull City 5-1 and 4-0 respectively. Unfortunately, in other national competitions the London club's results are not so rosy. Bookmakers have named the visitors favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.43 on their victory. Wrexham, despite annual promotions in class, was not considered one of the favorites in the Championship. However in the second half of the season the Welsh team has shown such progress that a playoff appearance looks not like a maximum task, but a quite ordinary outcome. For the match against Chelsea Parkinson's charges will go out with three wins under their belts. Moreover, among the beaten opponents was Ipswich Town, which in the Championship contends for a direct ticket to the Premier League. Importantly, recently Wrexham have been scoring quite a lot. Chelsea last weekend lost the derby with Arsenal. This loss of points became the third in a row for the Blues in the league. In the middle of the week Rosenior's team played in Birmingham, where they conceded as early as the third minute of the match. In general, Chelsea's defense has plenty of problems, so there is no guarantee that in the away match against a Championship club the favorites will keep a clean sheet. Let's bet that there will be plenty of goals in the match.