Chelsea vs. Cardiff City: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

Chelsea will look to maintain pace with Arsenal and Liverpool atop the Premier League table this weekend when they play host to Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues are unbeaten in their previous three league matches dating back to last month and are just two points off a share of the lead atop the table heading into Saturday's showdown. Meanwhile, the Bluebirds are far off the pace in 14th place, having dropped two of their past three league games.

The two clubs will meet again in Wales in May, but on Saturday, it will be Jose Mourinho's squad that enjoys the advantage of playing at home.

Here, we'll get you set with everything you need to know for this Week 8 clash.

Date: Saturday, October 19, 2013

Time: 10 a.m. ET, 3 p.m. BST

Where: Stamford Bridge, London

Watch: Premier League Extra Time

Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra

Odds*:

Chelsea: 68.3 percent

Cardiff City: 12.8 percent

Draw: 18.9 percent

*Odds according to Bloomberg Sports.

Top Storyline: Chelsea Set to Begin Difficult Stretch

While it's vital that the Blues don't look past Cardiff City this weekend, it will be awfully hard for Chelsea to focus on the task at hand with a plethora of more challenging matches on tap over the next three weeks.

Following Saturday's clash with the Bluebirds, Chelsea will head to Germany for a Champions League matchup with Schalke on Tuesday before returning home to host Manchester City in the Premier League next weekend. Two days later, the Blues will visit Arsenal to compete in the Capital One Cup.

After three days to rest up, Chelsea will play three more matches in a one-week span, including two Premier League tilts with Newcastle and West Brom.

So while Mourinho's squad has performed exceptionally well to this point, Saturday's match will be pivotal for Chelsea as they look to begin a challenging stretch of football (seven matches in 22 days) on the right foot.

Prediction 

The oddsmakers give Chelsea a 68 percent chance of winning on Saturday, and it's hard to disagree. 

Chelsea are a flawless 3-0-0 against Premier League opposition at Stamford Bridge this season and have outscored those three opponents by a combined count of 6-1. On the other hand, Cardiff City have just one league victory on the road in 2013-14, and that win came against Fulham, a club fighting to avoid relegation this season. 

Look for the Bluebirds, who have scored just seven goals in seven league matches, to struggle against the Blues' stifling defense on Saturday. Chelsea have conceded just four goals through their first seven league matchups (second-best only to Southampton in the EPL) and aim to generate scoring chances off their stout defense.

If Mourinho and the Blues have hopes of winning the Premier League this season, they'll need to come away from matchups like this one with three points intact.

Chelsea 2, Cardiff City 0

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