FA Cup 27 & 28 Feb

Tuesday’s games

I generally want to be with Manchester United at the moment as they are playing so well, scoring lots of goals and usually covering the handicap easily. But when they played Reading in the first fixture they rested six players and probably would not have come out with a draw had the Royals not decided to rest seven first team players. United were the better side on the evening but their minds were not on the job with a game against Lille coming up 50 hours later, so it’s hard to take too much from that game. I don’t think Steve Coppell cares that much about the FA Cup so I would be reluctant to bet on the home side tonight but United with a ½ goal handicap to cover away from home is a pretty high level against a side that is third in Premiership eight match form. I guess this is a game to watch the team sheets for carefully 20 minutes before kick off and I would prefer to be on United, but at the prices I can easily swerve it and not have a wager.

West Brom are in cracking form in the Championship at the moment and are playing with a lot of confidence. They could only manage a 1-1 draw at Leicester at the weekend although that is probably because they were focussed on this Cup game. They are normally the sort of side I like to get with in a Cup replay, especially as Tony Mowbray’s side looked possibly the better of the two teams, albeit they had to twice come back from a goal down. Unfortunately the bookies seem to have the same opinion as me and the level handicap offered on this game is very far from generous. In fact it so mean that I was tempted to get with Boro. The Premiership side are in decent form at the moment, beat Reading 2-1 at the weekend (having been the dominant side to go 2-0 and then wobbling a bit in the last 15 minutes) and should be a bit classier than their hosts. However Middlesborough have made hard work of getting to this stage of the competition and have already been taken to replays twice this season in the FA Cup. They may also field a slightly weakened side and I think that unless you know they have a full squad available then this game should be left alone too.

Wednesday’s games

It’s very hard indeed to assess how Arsenal will come out of Sunday’s Carling Cup Final. They lost, had two players sent off and will be probably a bit deflated. They will also be starting to focus on next Wednesday’s home Champions League fixture against PSV, which is probably the club’s most vital fixture so far this season. Add in a game against Reading at the weekend and it is perfectly possible to see the Gunners putting in a below par performance tonight. In the first match (this is a replay) the sides looked tired and a bit limp in their 0-0 draw and although Arsenal were the better side it was not by a huge margin. Blackburn had six of their first team squad absent on that day. With Rovers winning 3-0 at home to Portsmouth at the weekend confidence will be high and while they are not the most consistent of sides, they do look worth a bet tonight. The handicap looks generous to me and Blackburn Rovers with a ¼ goal start at home are worth a two point bet at 2.03

[Blackburn won 1-0]