This season’s FA Cup is pushing towards its final stages this weekend with the four quarter-finals set to take place.
Manchester City remain in the competition and will be widely viewed as the favourites to go on and win their second successive FA Cup trophy. However, sides like Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United will all still believe they can be the one to end Man City’s run this time around.
The stand-out game of the weekend is undeniably the continuation of one of the English Premier League’s biggest rivalries as Manchester United host Liverpool at Old Trafford. Elsewhere, Man City host Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium, and EFL Championship sides Coventry City and Leicester City travel to face Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea respectively.
With plenty of action guaranteed to take place, we’ve picked out our top tips and booking codes:
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Coventry City
Gary O’Neil joined Wolves just prior to the beginning of the Premier League season and despite it being a seemingly tough job to step into, O’Neil has overseen a fantastic improvement for his side compared to last season.
They come into this game ninth in the Premier League table with 41 points, the same exact total they finished the league with over the entirety of last season. Wolves have lost just one of their last five games across all competitions prior to their match against Coventry City and while they will be without key players such as Matheus Cunha and Pedro Neto, they will be hugely confident of taking the victory here.
Having been a very good Championship side for the past two seasons, Coventry should provide a tough test for Wolves and even though the Premier League side are likely to progress to the semi-finals, this one could well be decided in extra-time.
Wolverhampton Wanderers to qualify, 1.32
Draw (90 minutes only), 4.00
Manchester City vs Newcastle United
Erling Haaland has already cemented himself as one of the best goalscorers that English football has ever seen, with the Norwegian already breaking multiple records and scoring a huge 81 goals in 86 appearances for Man City.
Haaland will now face up against Newcastle United in the next round of the FA Cup, a team which has struggled to hit the same level of defensive performance that they showed last season. Newcastle conceded just 33 goals over the whole 38-game season last year, but this season they have struggled to keep the goals out with them already conceding 48 in 28 games.
This defensive weakness combined with Man City’s expert attacking play will result in Haaland being on the end of a fair few chances, and we expect the Norwegian to bury at least one of these and get on the scoresheet in this one, to add to his five goals against Luton in round five.
Erling Haaland to score anytime, 1.60
Chelsea vs Leicester City
Chelsea and Leicester City come together in this year’s FA Cup quarter-finals in a repeat of the 2021 final in which Leicester were victorious. However, both side’s fortunes have seen significant changes since this final as Chelsea now find themselves stagnating in the middle of the league table. At the same time, Leicester City have been relegated from the Premier League altogether.
A win here for Chelsea would see them go to Wembley Stadium for the second time this season following their Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool, and they will be looking to get to the final and end their horrendous run of six successive domestic cup final defeats.
Leicester City come into the game on top of the Championship table with a potential record-breaking season on the cards, but recent games have seen them drop points with three defeats and a draw in their last six games.
Chelsea will be by far the stronger team coming into this game and with Leicester’s poor recent form, we believe that Chelsea will take the victory.
Chelsea to win, 1.44
Manchester United vs Liverpool
Manchester United versus Liverpool is widely seen as one of the biggest rivalries in the English footballing calendar, but recently Liverpool have controlled this fixture.
Liverpool have won three of the last five matches between these two sides and have scored plenty of goals in this time. The aggregate score over these five games sees Liverpool hold a massive 17-2 lead, a scoreline which shows just how dominant the Reds have been in recent times.
Despite the game taking place at Old Trafford, Liverpool are certainly the favourites heading into this game as they sit 17 points clear of their rivals heading into the game and haven’t lost in eight straight games.
We expect this one to follow a similar pattern to recent match-ups between these two teams, with Liverpool asserting their power over Man United and earning themselves a spot in the FA Cup semi-finals.
Liverpool to win, 1.84
Best Booking Codes:
6CDFT6W, 6CDFV6T
