Just 16 teams remain in the hunt for this year’s FA Cup, and phrases like the Magic of the Cup have well and truly buggered off as most of the EPL big boys remain with a sniff of a title, and a few token Football League teams that will be patronised as pundits who rarely give a toss about anything lower than EPL have a glance at the Football League tables for the first time in February.
Leicester City are not in the fifth round of the FA Cup, which ordinarily is not as big a surprise as this year, but such is this season’s unpredictability, it means the EPL leaders are not in the running to win the cup. But a lot of the big clubs do remain, like Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham and both Manchester sides. At the other end of the EPL none of the bottom five are in the fifth round, the cup reflecting the league in this instance.
5 Football League clubs remain, Hull being the highest of the lot sitting atop of the Championship and looking likely to join the mega bucks next year. Shrewsbury Town from the third tier (19th of 24) are the lowest team left, and their reward is the visit of Manchester United, a coup for a lower division team. Given Manchester United aren’t in great form, lost to lowly Sunderland last weekend, and in the midweek to a Danish team I can’t pronounce but can cut and paste from reports Midtjylland, and needed another attempt to get past fourth division Cambridge away in last year’s version, the only true David v Goliath potential cupset could be just that. Well, a draw at least.
The other Football League teams are from the Championship in Reading, Leeds, and Blackburn. All former EPL who have had some struggles this year. Leeds (16th) struggles have mainly been off the pitch with an owner whose behaviour sets the new standard for the absurd, and fans are currently protesting his tenure. Reading (15th) were semi finalists last year in the Cup but have been up and down this season with runs of wins and losses. Blackburn have struggled the most and have been the bottom half for most of the season, their win last start in the league broke a 9 game winless streak.
As for the overall winner, we think West Ham are the best value at $12. They have no European commitments, have a decent squad and have a relatively easy draw this round.
As for this week’s games, here’s our “Best” bets.
MULTI 1
$1 for $14
ARSENAL to beat Hull
DRAW – Reading v Leeds
WATFORD to beat Leds
OVER 2.5 Goals – Bournemouth v Everton
MULTI 2
$1 for $33
WEST HAM to beat Blackburn
SPURS to beat Crystal Palace
CHELSEA to beat Manchester City
DRAW – Shrewsbury v Manchester United
