Football
FA Cup fifth round preview
The FA Cup fifth round takes place this midweek, with a spot in the quarter-finals of the oldest football cup competition in the world up for grabs.
We preview three of the ties below.
Bristol City vs Manchester City – Tuesday 20:00
Nigel Pearson’s Bristol City booked their place in the FA Cup fifth round with a convincing 3-0 win against West Bromwich Albion a month ago, a result sandwiched within an impressive nine game unbeaten run in the Championship. Saturday’s 1-0 victory against Hull City means the Robins haven’t lost a game at Ashton Gate since Boxing Day, with their home form an undoubted catalyst for their upturn in form.
Despite Bristol’s impressive shape since the post-World Cup restart, they will understandably start Tuesday’s clash against six-time winners Manchester City as 6/1 outsiders to win the tie, with a win in 90 minutes priced at 12/1.
Manchester City seem to fluctuate in and out of form, casting aside successive 1-1 draws with Nottingham Forest and RB Leipzig by thrashing Bournemouth 4-1 at the Vitality Stadium last weekend. Pep Guardiola’s men have had a tough run to get to this stage of the competition, humbling Chelsea 4-0 then edging past Premier League leaders Arsenal at the Etihad to book their fifth-round place. Pep Guardiola should guard against complacency against this enthusiastic Bristol side, but the Sky Blues will nonetheless start as heavy 1/12 favourites to progress to the quarters, with a win on the night slightly shorter at 1/5.
Predicting goalscorers is often a bit of a lottery in these midweek cup ties. Erling Haaland unsurprisingly leads the market for the visitors at 3/10, which frankly offers very little value considering he presumably won’t even start. We like the look of Riyad Mahrez’s price of 6/5 to net anytime, whilst Kevin de Bruyne, rested for City’s trip to Bournemouth on Saturday, is 7/1 to score the opener.
Check out all the latest betting offers at William Hill
Manchester United vs West Ham United – Wednesday 19:45
These two sides seem to have a knack of meeting eachother in domestic knockout competitions, having contested both last year’s FA Cup fifth round and the EFL Cup third round at Old Trafford, with one win apiece.
Manchester United capped off a seismic week in their development under Erik ten Hag with victory in the Carabao Cup Final on Sunday – their first major trophy for six years – to follow their electric comeback win against Barcelona in the Europa League on Thursday. There seems to be a sense of invincibility with the Red side of Manchester at the minute, who are unbeaten in their last 18 domestic games at Old Trafford, with two of those coming in the FA Cup.
Wednesday will most likely see a rotated United side given how exhausting last week would have been, but the Red Devils are perhaps a little overvalued here at 4/6 to win in 90 minutes against a West Ham side who have won just one league game on the road all season.
Having said that, the Hammers’ victories in the previous rounds have both come away from home, having dispatched Brentford and Derby on their travels to get to this year’s fifth round. David Moyes’ men enjoyed their biggest win of the season by thrashing Nottingham Forest 4-0 on Saturday but will understand the magnitude of their task on Wednesday, having lost six of their previous seven matchups with United in all competitions. They’re a 19/5 shot to win in 90 minutes and priced at 2/1 to win the tie altogether.
Sheffield United vs Tottenham Hotspur – Wednesday 19:55
Sheffield United ended their two game losing streak with an important 1-0 win over fellow promotion hopefuls Watford on Saturday to cement their second-placed position in the Championship. Baring a remarkable downturn in form, it seems the Blades will secure automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, whilst their dramatic FA Cup fourth round ties against Ryan Reynold’s Wrexham generated a huge amount of coverage.
The Blades were also victorious against Millwall in the third round and may fancy their chances against a Tottenham side who find themselves in decent form but are nonetheless impossible to predict. United will start as 18/5 outsiders for victory, with Spurs 4/5 favourites to progress on the night.
Tottenham’s upturn in recent form has curiously coincided with manager Antonio Conte’s absence from the sidelines, with a Sunday’s 2-0 win over rivals Chelsea their fourth victory in five league games. It would be hard to argue against the notion that Spurs have been largely underwhelming for the majority of the campaign, but Conte has a knack of turning things round when the business end of the season commences.
The eight-time winners beat Portsmouth and Preston North End to get to this stage and will be enticed by a draw that doesn’t include any of last year’s finalists, with a coveted first major honour since 2008 surely the preference of most die-hard supporters from N17.
