Born in the south east of Ireland, Simon put his life-long love of football to good use when he started a successful independent blog in 2010. That opened up an alternative route to a career in journalism, and having had work published across a number of sites and publications, Simon joined the staff at Spotlight Sports Group in 2018.
After another frantic set of knockout football fixtures, the number of teams competing for this season’s FA Cup halved from 16 to 8 this week, simultaneously dashing and recharging hopes of glory for those involved.
Unsurprisingly, 6 of the remaining 8 FA Cup combatants come from the Premier League, with Championship clubs Millwall and Swansea the only representatives from England’s lower leagues.
The draw for the Quarter Finals of the 2018/19 took place on Monday night directly after Manchester United’s 2-0 triumph over Chelsea in the last of the competition’s 5th Round fixtures at Stamford Bridge.
Already, supporters will be plotting potential routes to the FA Cup final for their respective teams, though the Quarter Final draw has certainly favoured some more than others.
Let’s take a closer look at the prime contenders to go on and lift the Cup, as well as some of the dark horses and best value outliers to keep an eye on.
Keep up to date with all of our latest FA Cup match previews, betting tips and predictions here.
Manchester’s Big Two
Manchester City and United are undoubtedly the biggest names left in the FA Cup and even though they are list as the favourites and second favourites to go on and lift the trophy, the Citizens look to have the edge on their rivals after a much kinder Quarter Final draw.
City have had a healthy dollop of luck in terms of who they have faced in the FA Cup so far this season, with games against Rotherham, Burnley and Newport allowing them to transition to the Quarter Finals with relative ease.
After the Citizens disposed of Newport on Saturday, Pep Guardiola’s men were handed what looks like another “gimme” this week when they were paired with Swansea City in the next round.
In contrast, United have made the Quarter Finals the hard way, after they negotiated extremely tough contests in London at Arsenal and Chelsea respectively in Rounds 4 and 5.
Wolves away was just about the toughest opponent United could have drawn in the competition’s next stage (bar a trip to the Etihad to play City), and having bloodied the nose of plenty of the Premier League’s biggest and best already this season, Wanderers will be confident of causing another upset at Molineux next month.
With the other 2 of the competition’s 3 favourites facing off, Manchester City’s path to Wembley suddenly looks much clearer. Amazingly, you can still get odds of 5/6 on City winning the FA Cup with Betvictor, which looks fantastic value given the circumstances.
Dark Horses worth considering
With one of Wolves and Manchester United guaranteed to be eliminated at the FA Cup’s Quarter Final stage next month, the chances of one of the competition’s outliers and less fancied teams making it to Wembley has increased dramatically.
Manchester City will feel they already have one foot in the Semi Final after their fortuitous draw, though each of the four clubs contesting the fixtures between Watford/Crystal Palace and Millwall/Brighton will believe they can join the Citizens there.
Having already beaten Crystal Palace home and away in the league this season by identical 2-1 scorelines, Watford will be supremely confident of completing a treble over the Eagles when the teams renew acquaintances next month at Vicarage Road.
At 12/1 to win the competition outright, it feels incredibly unlikely that Watford can go all the way and lift the cup, though with a little luck in the draw, reaching the final itself is a far from unreasonable target for the Hornets.
Watford are currently priced at 7/2 to reach the last game of the competition with Betvictor, and we think that price is well worth considering given the factors at play.
The FA Cup’s remaining Quarter Final tie, pits Championship strugglers and cup specialists Millwall against Premier League outfit Brighton at The Den.
Millwall made it to the last 8 of the FA Cup for the 4th time in 15 seasons this year, thanks to their hard-fought 1-0 win at AFC Wimbledon in Round 5.
The Lions will back themselves to devour some more Premier League prey against Brighton next month, after already showing their ferocious bite against top-flight side Everton at the Den in Round 4.
With just 4 wins from their last 30 competitive away games, Brighton could have done without a draw against such prolific giant killers on their own patch, and it won’t surprise anyone if the Seagulls are dumped out of the FA Cup by Millwall on March 16th.
Like Watford, if Millwall can come through their Quarter Final tie, and avoid a Semi Final date with City, a surprise route to the Final could open up for Neil Harris’ men.
At odds of 14/1 to reach the final with Betvictor, Millwall certainly represent plenty of value in that market and they are definitely worth a small stake at that price.
