After a dramatic Third Round of action on the first weekend in January, that saw the 
current holders, Arsenal eliminated from the competition on the back of a 4-2 thumping at Nottingham Forest, Premier League Stoke City humbled by League Two Coventry City and Wigan claim a spot in the next round after a fully deserved 3-0 replay win over Bournemouth, this weekend sees the Fourth Round of the FA Cup take place across England.
As always, we are going to take a look at the game coming up on the horizon for this special weekend of football and give you our views on what the best bets are on each of the three days of games (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
We will then also take a look at the current Outright Winners market and see which teams are dominating and which are the outsiders before letting you know who we think is our choice to win the FA Cup outright in May.
Let’s begin though by taking a look at the fixtures that are lined up for this coming weekend.
FA Cup Fourth Round Fixtures
The odds displayed are currently the best available on the Match Winner Market. All kick off times are 3pm unless stated otherwise.
- Friday 26th January
Sheffield Wednesday (5/4) v Reading (34/13) (Draw – 27/11) – 7.45pm
Yeovil Town (19/1) v Manchester United (3/16) (Draw – 7/1) – 7.55pm
There’s just two games on Friday night and in truth, while the BBC One Live Game Yeovil Town v Manchester United is perhaps hoping of a fanciful upset, I cannot see anything but a straightforward win for United here. Jose Mourinho has always played a relatively strong team in the FA Cup and I think even if he rests some players, his team should be strong enough to come through this tie without too much difficulty.
That means I’d focus on the much more even contest between Sheffield Wednesday and Reading for my bet on Friday. Both teams are having poor seasons in the Championship, and lie in the bottom half of the table as a result. However, a win here would give them a Fifth Round spot and a chance to draw some big money opponents.
The teams drew 0-0 in the Championship back in November 2017 at the Madjeski Stadium and I predict another tight game here and I can see this one requiring a replay to decide the winner, hence I am backing the draw here at 21/10 with Coral.
- Saturday 27th January
Peterborough Utd (53/10) v Leicester City (5/8) (Draw – 16/5) – 12.30pm
Huddersfield Town (4/6) v Birmingham City (26/5) (Draw – 29/10)
Hull City (16/11) v Nottingham Forest (20/9) (Draw – 28/11)
MK Dons (15/13) v Coventry City (54/19) (Draw – 5/2)
Middlesbrough (11/8) v Brighton (22/9) (Draw – 23/10)
Millwall (3/4) v Rochdale (51/10) (Draw – 3/1)
Notts County (7/2) v Swansea City (19/20) (Draw – 13/5)
Sheffield Utd (13/10) v Preston North End (27/10) (Draw – 12/5)
Southampton (Evens) v Watford (7/2) (Draw – 51/19)
Wigan Athletic (11/5) v West Ham United (7/5) (Draw – 5/2)
Newport County (19/1) v Tottenham Hotspur (3/16) (Draw 36/5) – 5.30pm
Liverpool (4/13) v West Brom (11/1) (Draw – 27/5) – 7.45pm
There’s lots of games to enjoy on Saturday and rather than pick individual bets, what I have done is put together a little FA Cup Accumulator which will fulfil the requirements of Coral’s 4+ Acca Boost promotion, where you receive a free bet worth 10% of your total winnings, on top of any successful qualifying accumulator bet.
My choice for Saturday’s FA Cup accumulator are the following matches and results:
- Huddersfield Town v Birmingham City – Home Win
- Hull City v Nottingham Forest – Draw
- Middlesbrough v Brighton – Draw
- Southampton v Watford – Home Win
- Wigan Athletic v West Ham – Draw
At the moment, exact prices on this bet are not yet available with Coral, but I would expect them to be around the 110/1 range for a successful fivefold bet.
- Sunday 28th January
Chelsea (2/5) v Newcastle United (9/1) (Draw – 43/10)
Cardiff City (10/1) v Manchester City (1/3) (Draw – 11/2)
The final two games of the Fourth Round are both played on Sunday and the first one pits Chelsea against Newcastle in an all Premier League clash before Cardiff City have the chance to cause what would be the biggest upset in the cup this season as they host Manchester City.
I think the first game here’s pretty much a nailed on Chelsea win, especially given Newcastle’s issues off the field and Rafa Benitez’ approach to games against the top sides. Even though this is the FA Cup, Benitez won’t be too concerned with a loss here with his primary focus being on ensuring Newcastle’s Premier League survival.
As such, I think the most interesting match here for a bet is the Cardiff v Man City clash and while I think Man City will win the game, relatively comfortably, I think the best bet available for this is to back Manchester City and Over 3.5 goals to be scored in the game which is a 17/10 shot with Coral.
FA Cup Outright Betting with Coral
The top teams in the Premier League’s unsurprisingly are the shortest priced options in the outright betting market with Coral at the Fourth Round stage. Manchester City are the favourites, just, from Manchester United, but both are closely followed by Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham. Outside of that five, the odds-on teams lengthens considerably with Leicester City at 20/1 and Southampton at 25/1 the next best options. If you fancy a real outside punt on a miracle happening then you can back League Two sides Newport County and Yeovil, who are both 1,500/1 shots with Coral at present.
- Manchester City – 3/1 Favourites
- Manchester United – 4/1
- Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs – 11/2
- Leicester City – 20/1
- Southampton – 25/1
- West Ham & Watford – 40/1
- Swansea City & Newcastle Utd – 50/1
- West Brom, Brighton, Huddersfield Town – 66/1
- Middlesbrough & Sheffield Wednesday – 80/1
- Sheffield United – 100/1
- Hull City – 125/1
- Reading, Preston, Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City – 150/1
- Cardiff City – 200/1
- Wigan Athletic – 250/1
- Peterborough, Rochdale, MK Dons – 400/1
- Coventry City – 500/1
- Notts County – 750/1
- Newport County & Yeovil Town – 1,500/1
Our pick to win the FA Cup in May
In our view, there’s little point in looking outside the top five teams in this list above as potential winners of the FA Cup in May. Even if a couple of them get knocked out in the rounds leading up to the final, the gap between Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham to even the next best teams, is considerable.
A flicker of hope could come from these top teams fielding weak sides in some games in the tournament, however in the last round, many of these teams fielded almost full-strength sides for their games, evidence which suggests that the big boys are taking the FA Cup very seriously this season.
Manchester City are always going to be a popular pick given their performances this season, but I do think that their efforts in the Premier League and also the Champions League may be their undoing in the FA Cup. As such, I think Manchester United at 4/1 are a good solid choice, Jose Mourinho understands the importance of picking up trophies each year and the FA Cup would be a decent one to add to his collection.
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