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FA Cup

Boro v Cardiff City: Home side lacking the Mido touch of late

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Andrew French tells us why it might be worth opposing the misfiring Premiership side with Cardiff more than happy to take the tie back to Ninian Park

Neither club has had to face a Premiership opponent to reach this weekend's FA Cup Quarter-Final - and now Middlesbrough and Cardiff City stand one win away from a semi-final place.

In a season when the famous cup competition has been notable for top-flight sides falling by the wayside, the scalps have not been claimed by either Boro or City. No, they've seen off the likes of Chasetown, Hereford and Mansfield on their way to the last eight.

And both clubs will doubtless be thinking that if they can win this one, and avoid Chelsea and Manchester United, then appearing in the final is well within reach.

This is Middlesbrough's third consecutive quarter-final appearance - not a shoddy statistic until you realise that only once in their last 10 FA Cup ties have they met a team from the Premiership. That was in the 2005/06 quarter-finals, when they beat Charlton after a replay and went on to lose 1-0 to West Ham in the semi-final.

While cup glory will be craved by both fans and club alike, Gareth Southgate will also know it could be a hindrance to their ultimate goal - staying in the top flight. Boro are only four points off the relegation zone, although such is the crowded nature of the bottom half of the table that they have five clubs between them and the trapdoor.

Southgate put last weekend's home defeat to Reading - which ended a four-game unbeaten sequence at the Riverside - down to tiredness after their two-hour cup replay with Sheffield United three days earlier.

This week there can be no such excuses as Boro have had a whole week to prepare, while Cardiff were playing at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.

It's goals that are the problem for the Teesside outfit - they have netted just eight in their last 11 home games. The £12m capture of Afonso Alves has not changed much so far.

Indeed, there has generally been a dearth of goals at the Riverside: the last six games have seen the ball in the net a paltry eight times. Backing Under 2.5 goals at [1.74] seems a pretty safe place to start then!

This cup run is almost certainly going to be the highlight of Cardiff's season. They have flirted with the promotion battle but are stuck in mid-table: as close to the Premiership ladder as they are to the League One snake.

The Bluebirds squad is littered with well-known names: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Robbie Fowler, Trevor Sinclair. However, things clearly haven't gelled for Dave Jones' side and therefore a brush with Wembley would be a welcome distraction from a league campaign that looks doomed to end with another season in the Championship.

Cardiff don't have a problem scoring goals - in fact, 14 different players have found the net this season. The trouble is, none of their squad has reached double figures.

And they also have a tendency to draw away games: nine so far this season. So, backing the draw at [3.75] is no forlorn hope given that statistic and Boro's troubles finding the net. Indeed, they struggled to overcome Sheffield United in their fifth round replay and had not really looked like scoring until the freak extra-time winner that went in off keeper Paddy Kenny.

Boro are [1.7] to back with Cardiff priced at [6.0] - laying the visitors at [6.2] is a decent bet as they will doubtless be content with a replay back at Ninian Park.

In the same vein, backing 0-0 at [10.0] makes perfect sense, although because the gap in class should tell I'm going to be adding in 1-0 to Middlesbrough at [6.2].