FA Cup: Underdogs can bite the big guns

Daniel McCulloch (@DMcCulloch1984) Turns his attention to the FA Cup on Saturday's and brings us his best bets from the 3pm kick-offs.

Everton v Lincoln City | Saturday 5th January 2019, 15:00

The FA Cup has not been a happy hunting ground for Everton in recent seasons, with Third round exits in each of the last two seasons. A home game against League Two Lincoln must therefore be treated with glee in the blue half of Merseyside.

That said, I simply cannot fathom who is backing The Toffees at a best price of 2/13. While they are enjoying a comfortable midtable spot in the Premier League, they have won just one of their last eight league fixtures and have not kept a clean sheet since November.

Lincoln’s FA Cup pedigree is fairly impressive, as they reached the Quarter Finals as a non-league side just two seasons ago, beating Ipswich, Brighton and Burnley along the way.

The Imps currently find themselves four points clear at the top of League Two and I cannot see them lying down at Goodison. If you offered Marco Silva a 1-0 or 2-0 victory now then I am sure he would bite your hand off. Taking Lincoln +2.5 at 10/13 with BetVictor is therefore my recommendation.

I actually believe the Lincolnshire side will score here, so will also be playing 2-1 and 3-1 in the correct score markets.

Best of the Rest

In the other 3pm kick offs, there are a couple of underdogs I believe are worth chancing.

Firstly, Walsall at 3/1 to win at Bolton. The West Midland outfit may be sitting in relative mediocrity of 15th place in League One but you wonder how many sides in that division could make a better fist of the Championship than Bolton are currently.

Phil Parkinson’s men have just 12 points from their last 22 fixtures in the second flight and I expect The University of Bolton Stadium to be very sparsely populated on Saturday afternoon.

Given that they’ve won just two of those matches, I was tempted by simply backing The Saddlers in the Draw No Bet market but given that neither side is likely to want a replay, I think it’s worth chancing the away side at a bigger price.

Finally, Gillingham are also worth a bet at 18/5 with Betfair to embarrass Cardiff in Kent.

The Gills are hardly setting the world alight in League One but I expect 10 changes minimum from Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.

Neil Warnock showed no interest in the League Cup this season as his side lost 3-1 at home to Norwich. Premier League survival is all the Yorkshireman cares about this season and I expect that attitude to rub off on his players.