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FA Cup Betting: No surprises here

FA Cup RSS / / 24 January 2008 / 1

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Nick Wardle looks ahead to the upcoming FA Cup weekend

Liverpool [1.02] v Havant & Waterlooville [160] - The FA Cup, eh? There's lots of interesting betting to be had on this game - mainly in the under/over goals scored categories. Other bets that a worth considering are Liverpool not to keep a clean sheet at 2.5 and the odds are currently 2.32 on a player scoring a hat-trick.

Man Utd [1.51] v Tottenham [8] - During the week, Spurs have been busy thrashing their arch-rivals, Arsenal, in the Carling Cup. Man Utd have been busy playing exhibition football in Saudi Arabia whilst earning lots of cash and working on their brand. United put out a stronger team against Al Hilal than in the defeat against Coventry in the Carling Cup - thus showing their footballing priorities. The FA Cup is a slightly bigger fish to fry, though, and it will take a monumental performance by Spurs to even earn a replay.

Mansfield [8.4] v Middlesborough [1.41] - After winning at Brighton in the last round, Mansfield deserve a plum home tie. They're in real danger of dropping out of the Football League and will be looking forward to forgetting their league woes for an afternoon. Middlesbrough have perked up over recent weeks and have showed some steel in earning draws against Liverpool and Blackburn. They overcame a trickier tie in the 3rd Round away at Bristol City and I expect them to progress here.

Wigan [7.6] v Chelsea [1.58] - Chelsea will be buoyed by securing their Carling Cup final berth and will be looking to maintain their momentum under Avram Grant. Since their Boxing Day draw at home to Aston Villa - after which many wrote them off - they've won seven straight games in all cup competitions. Chelsea are making light of their numerous absentees and should defeat a Wigan side whose main focus is staying in the Premier League. There should be goals in this game and the current odds for there being over 3.5 is a tasty 2.82.

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  1. Lewis | 24 January 2008

    I would love to see Havant & Waterlooville get a draw at Anfield and take Liverpool back to their home patch. I'd pay money to see the top-flight players freezing their arses off, skidding around on a boggy pitch in front of a few hundred people.

    I'm considering longshot bets on Mansfield and Spurs. Something tells me Southgate is going to be pretty anxious going into this game, and I know a Boro fan who says he wouldn't be surprised if they got beat.. especially if they put out a weakened team. They have looked fairly poor this season and it took them 70 minutes to take the lead against Bristol City after going behind, though of course the Robins are a bit better than Mansfield.

    Spurs on the other hand .. yes it would take a good display to overcome United at Old Trafford, especially given their current form. Ferguson has been complacent in the past though, I remember the year they were knocked out by West Ham after already booking the hotel in Cardiff for the final. Plus, if Ramos' side can perform anything like they did against Arsenal they must surely be in with a shot.