the emirates fa cup quarter-finals get underway this weekend, with middlesbrough and manchester city getting the action kicked off on saturday. later in the day, danny cowley takes his vanarama national league side lincoln city to the home of the 12-time cup winners arsenal.
on sunday, mauricio pochettino’s tottenham hotspur and neil harris’s millwall go head-to-head at white hart lane for a tasty cup tie, whilst manchester united travel to chelsea for a heavyweight clash on monday.
with our fa cup live odds comparison, best odds, top tips, predictions and analysis, we’ll be previewing all four huge fa cup ties. which four sides will make it through to april’s wembley semi-finals?
we kick things off with saturday’s early clash, as aitor karanka’s middlesbrough and pep guardiola’s manchester city square off at the riverside stadium for an all-premier league fa cup tie. with city flying high in the premier league, whilst boro occupy a place in the relegation zone, the citizens are the strong favourites to progress.
city needed two attempts to eventually see off sky bet championship high-flyers huddersfield town in the previous round. after a 0-0 draw at the john smith’s stadium, pep’s boys thumped the terriers 5-1 at the etihad stadium. prior to beating huddersfield, city saw off west ham united and crystal palace.
as for boro, they beat sheffield wednesday, accrington stanley and oxford united, all at the riverside, to reach the last eight. despite being at home again, this time the teesside club are very much the underdogs. our live odds comparison is showing boro available at 15/2 at bet365 to claim a shock win. meanwhile, the best odds you can get on the draw are 7/2 (ladbrokes).
nonetheless, we’re predicting a comfortable afternoon for the in-form citizens on saturday. the five-time fa cup winners are priced at just 4/9 (betfred) for the win, so we prefer betvictor’s eye-opening odds of 31/10 for the away side to win -2 at the riverside.
after beating sutton united in the fifth round, arsene wenger’s arsenal face another non-league outfit in the fa cup, this time in the shape of danny cowley’s national league leaders lincoln city. it’s been a memorable season for the imps, and they head to the emirates stadium with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
lincoln’s fa cup journey started all the way back in october, when they drew 0-0 with guiseley at sincil bank. since then, they have beaten the likes of oldham athletic, ipswich town, brighton & hove albion and burnley to reach the quarters. after already coming out on top at a premier league ground this year, can they do the unthinkable and win at arsenal?
standing in their way, though, are the 12-time (shared record) fa cup winners, who are wounded, having lost four of their last six league and cup fixtures. the gunners have seen off preston north end, southampton and sutton to reach the quarter-finals.
despite their fa cup heroics, the bookies are not giving cowley’s men much of a chance in the capital, pricing the national league table toppers at a huge 33/1 (ladbrokes) to cause one of the biggest shocks in cup history. you can even get the draw at 11/1 with coral, whilst arsenal are just 1/10 with the same firm.
we’re tipping the gunners to fire past their non-league opponents on saturday, and we feel there’s decent value in sportingbet’s 4/6 for wenger’s men to win with a -2 goal handicap.
on sunday, millwall travel to tottenham hotspur for a mouth-watering london derby. the lions head to the lane in superb form, and will fancy their chances of claiming another premier league scalp, having already seen off bournemouth, watford and leicester city in this year’s competition.
as for spurs, they beat aston villa and wycombe wanderers at home, before beating fulham 3-0 at craven cottage in the last round. looking at the live odds, as expected, tottenham are the strong favourites, with betfred offering just 2/11 for a home win. meanwhile, the best odds you can get on millwall to secure another victory over a top-flight side are 18/1 with ladbrokes, with the draw coming in at 7/1 with bet365.
even though the league one side have been magnificent in the fa cup this term, as well as heading to north london in fine fettle, we can’t see anything other than a routine spurs victory in this one.
at 2/11, there’s no point backing tottenham to just win – we feel there’s much better value in betvictor’s 5/4 for pochettino’s men to overcome a -2 goal handicap this sunday.
the most attractive fa cup fixture of the round comes from stamford bridge, as english heavyweights chelsea and manchester united meet on monday night. united’s last premier league defeat was that 4-0 thumping at the hands of the blues back in october, which they will be hoping to avenge on monday.
according to our live odds comparison, antonio conte’s troops are the 19/20 favourites with betfred to prevail, with the away team coming in at 16/5 with ladbrokes. if you fancy this one to end all square, the best odds you can get are 12/5 with william hill.
when these two meet, they usually produce thrilling encounters. the last time the pair went head-to-head in the fa cup, chelsea won a replay 1-0 at the bridge after a 2-2 draw at old trafford in march 2013. a few months earlier, chelsea won a league cup game 5-4 in west london.
we predict there to be goals in this one. since drawing 0-0 at old trafford in a league fixture back in december 2015, the following two matches have produced six goals. therefore, we like the look of betvictor’s 31/10 for there to be over 3.5 goals on monday.