Lincoln City vs Carlisle Predictions

The weather is getting colder and the nights are getting darker, which can mean only one thing, the FA Cup is back again. This weekends action at Sincil Bank is an all League Two affair, as league leaders Lincoln City look to book their spot in the third round as they welcome an old foe, Carlisle United.

Lincoln City have an excellent recent history in the competition as, even though they fell at the first hurdle last season, they managed to make it all the way to the fifth round in the season prior to that. This season, the Imps are enjoying their best start to a league campaign in years, and even though there is still plenty of time remaining in the campaign, they look well set to climb yet another division come the end of the season. However, although they score plenty, if they are to achieve this aim then they will need to tighten things up at the back.

Making the trip to Sincil Bank is a Carlisle United side who have perhaps not had the sort of start to the season they will have hoped for. The Cumbrians are off the pace in League Two and although they still harbour hopes of winning a spot in the end of season play-offs, they will have to improve their recent form if they are to achieve this aim. One area for them to improve is their ability to find the back of the net, and a match in the FA Cup which contains no goal difference appears to be the perfect place to start.

Most people will have this one penned as a banker home win and that is something which is also true of the bookmakers and their odds. Given that there appears to be little value in backing this, we think that the goalscoring nature of Lincoln this season combined with the fact that Carlisle have been strong on the road, means that backing both teams to score is the way to go.

We are not done there either, as although there is little value in a home win, we still think it is likely to happen. The hosts appear to be simply too strong this term and will be keen to repeat their heroics of a few seasons ago and land one of the big boys in the next round. With this in mind, we think that combining our initial tip of both teams to score with a home win represents an excellent opportunity to boost the return on offer.