FA Cup fourth round preview: More upsets on the cards?

The magic of the FA Cup is back and with a possible fairy tale story in the pipeline for Kidderminster all eyes will be on them in the fourth round

We preview the standout fixtures from this weekend’s fourth round.

Underdogs Kidderminster to spring a surprise? 

Kidderminster Harriers are one of only two non-League sides left in the competition and of those two, they are the lowest ranked. Currently third in the National League North, they sit 113 places below Saturday’s opponents West Ham United, who are flying high in the Premier League.

It was a 2-1 victory over Championship side Reading in the third round that sent Kidderminster into this fourth round tie as they showed that they are more than capable of causing an upset, while they will even have home advantage at their Aggborough Stadium to boot on Saturday.

The Worcestershire club will be up against it though, with West Ham coming into this fixture fresh from a two-week break, and with a manager at the helm in David Moyes who is yet to concede a goal in five FA Cup ties against non-League opposition. Such has been the overall quality of his team this season, they will be hopeful of progressing past Kidderminster and challenging for the FA Cup itself, in what would be the club’s first major trophy since 1980.

While the upset is, by definition, unlikely, the neutral will certainly be rooting for Kidderminster at home, who can be backed at 10/1 for a shock victory. The Hammers, meanwhile, are a more obvious 1/4. A more tempting price could be the 21/10 available for a West Ham win with both teams to score.

Leicester’s cup defence continues

Current cup holders Leicester City face a tricky tie on Sunday against a rejuvenated Nottingham Forest after a 1-0 victory for the latter against Premier League side Arsenal saw Steve Cooper’s side progress to the fourth round. Forest have hit a purple patch of late as they look genuine play-off contenders, with only four sides in the Championship picking up more points across their last ten games than them.

Leicester aren’t going through the same fortunes and the Foxes appear to be a club out of sorts. Having spent the last two seasons flying high in the Premier League and challenging for Champions League spots, they currently sit tenth and it looks like cup competitions could be where priorities lie for the club in terms of taking anything out of this season. It would be easy to imagine that extra emphasis is being placed on this competition by Brendan Rodgers as current cup holders, and if their third round result is anything to go by, that appears to be the case. The Foxes have put together a solid run so far with a 4-1 demolition of Watford in their last outing, so it could be goals on the horizon in Sunday’s fixture.

To qualify for the next round, Forest can be backed at 5/4, while Leicester are the odds-on favourites at 4/7. However, with both sides’ scoring records considered, what could be the play in this fixture is a Leicester victory with both teams to score at 16/5.

Potter’s Seagulls

Honours for the final clash of the day on Saturday go to Spurs and Brighton at 8pm, and it will be Spurs that will be brimming with excitement as, after an eventful transfer deadline day, they secured the services of Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus, with the former coming on a permanent deal and the latter on an 18-month loan. Spurs manager Antonio Conte will want to instil a winning culture in his new recruits and will likely see this as the perfect opportunity to bed them in.

Brighton currently sit ninth in the Premier League and are, rather unbelievably for fans of old, dreaming of European football. Graham Potter’s side have been nothing short of impressive this season, playing an attractive style and winning points off some of the bigger names in the division. And it’s not just Spurs that will have a stronger squad for this fixture; Brighton too will have reinforcements as they welcome back a slew of first-team players including Shane Duffy, Lewis Dunk, and Yves Bissouma.

However, the Seagulls will still be up against it, make no mistake. And their price of 29/10 looks fair against favourites Spurs, who could make light work of this one if at their best, and they can be backed at 5/6.

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