The Magic Of The FA Cup / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 25 January 2009 / Leave a comment

Heartbreak for Torquay, the holders Portsmouth are out, Chelsea and Man Utd remain the favourites for the FA Cup after home wins... and Arsenal and Liverpool will have to do it all again against Cardiff and Everton - Jamie Pacheco talks us through this weekend's FA Cup action.

Everton's FA Cup visit to Anfield ended in a 1-1 draw for the second time in six days after that scoreline was matched at [8.4] on Betfair. The Toffees traded at a low of 2.2 on the match odds market before Steven Gerrard's equaliser; Liverpool traded at a pre-match low of 1.62, the draw was backed at a high of 3.9. Good news for the draw backers but even better news for those who predicted that Everton would be leading at half-time with the draw at full-time - that was matched as high as [22.0].

Somewhat surprisingly, Liverpool are relatively strong favourites at around 1.55 to progress to the next round, despite the fact that Everton will be at home for the replay. David Moyes' team are around the 2.6 mark.

Earlier in the day Arsenal discovered that they too will have to stage an FA Cup replay somewhere in an already congested fixture list, after a goalless draw against Cardiff City. The Gunners were matched at a low of 1.52 with the 0-0 draw a 16.0 shot pre-match.

These replays have unsurprisingly seen both Arsenal and Liverpool drift in the betting to lift the trophy come May. Arsenal are out to 6.4 but Liverpool's tough replay at Goodison has seen their odds lengthen even more, they're now 8.4 to win the FA Cup for the first time since 2006.

Chelsea remain in the FA Cup despite not having it all their own way at home to Ipswich. The Blues hit 1.63 in-running on Betfair when drawing 1-1 with just half an hour left on the clock. Chelsea are the second-favourites to win a competition they last won in 2007 at [5.0], trailing Man Utd in the betting.

Despite being crippled by an ever-increasing injury list that includes the likes of Rooney, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Evra, Nani and Anderson, Sir Alex Ferguson's men managed to overcome Tottenham to book their place in the next round. Tottenham, who have more than their own share of injury problems, took an unlikely lead through Pavlyuchenko but goals from former Spurs man Dimitar Berbatov and the evergreen Paul Scholes were enough to knock Spurs out. United lead the betting at [4.4] to win the competition.

Fulham left it late at Kettering and drifted to 5.4 in-running before Andy Johnson's goal just two minutes from time put them ahead before they added a late fourth.; Roy Hodgson's men are now [23.0] for the Cup.

Another side scoring late on to secure their win was Coventry, who hit 8.6 before beating non-league Torquay, with the winner coming in the 87th minute.

Whether all of the Big Four will be in the next round remains to be seen but one team who certainly won't be are the defending champions Portsmouth. Tony Adams' side crashed out to Swansea 2-0, who were matched at a high of 5.2.

Earlier in the day, two first-half goals were enough for West Ham to knock out Hartlepool. The Hammers were matched at a high of [85.0] to be leading 2-0 at half-time. There were also wins for Hull, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Watford; Sunderland/Blackburn, West Brom/Burnley, Derby/Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa/Doncaster will go to replays.