Birmingham City win among our five FA Cup upsets to look out for
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The FA Cup is back again with a full schedule of fourth round games that offer up plenty of opportunities for those looking to back a potential upset.
While the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City look untouchable, we’ve pored over the fixtures and all-important stats to find the ties with the potential to provide shocks aplenty – and a big win or two – so read on for our five tips.
The Blues are a team transformed under Gary Rowett, losing just two from 12 under the former Burton boss and having beaten the likes of Watford, Reading, Nottingham Forest and Wigan during that time they will be confident of causing West Brom problems.
A derby day it may be but with Baggies manager Tony Pulis likely to favour focusing on Premier League survival rather than a cup run, the hosts look a tempting prospect to prevail.
The Blades demolished QPR with a 3-0 win last time out in the FA Cup and having reached the semi-finals of the League Cup already with wins over Southampton and West Ham along the way they must be fancied to see off a Preston side they have already beaten in 2015.
Simon Grayson’s side have stumbled a little of late, winning just one of their last six and with promotion the main priority it’s the visitors who must be backed.
The Cottagers are starting to find some form under Kit Symons, losing just one of their last four going into this encounter and with the London club buoyed by a recent 2-1 win over Reading, it’s the Black Cats that need to be fearful.
Gus Poyet’s charges are in terrible form having won just two of their last 13 games going into this encounter, while they’ve also claimed victory in just one of their last seven at the Stadium of Light.
Arguably the most reliable of the five picks, Bournemouth may have suffered defeat to Leeds going into this game but they will most definitely be up for this encounter, having played some scintillating attacking football in the Championship this term.
Villa, by contrast, are struggling for both goals and points in the Premier League and manager Paul Lambert could see this game as an unwelcome distraction with the Claret and Blue’s on a dire run of one win in their last eight – and that was against Blackpool.
An outside bet they may be, but with the Spotland faithful behind them and a great price offered Dale look a good prospect to progress, having won three on the bounce going into this encounter.
Stoke remain an unpredictable beast in the Premier League and after struggling to break down non-league Wrexham in the last round, they could find a trip to Greater Manchester on a wet Monday night too much to handle.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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