Sports Blog 02/01/2015: Match Preview – FA Cup 3rd Round, Sunday 4th January 2015

Everyone loves the FA Cup. It is one of the few spaces in modern football where unqualified upsets can happen, where clichéd David and Goliath tales take on new life as minnows make a mockery of giants.

Sunday’s first televised game sees Crystal Palace visit Dover Athletic at 1.00pm on BT Sport 1. New Palace manager Alan Pardew will be hoping he can get his struggling side stable before Sunday, as he looks to win his first game in charge. Despite Palace being in 18th in the Premier League, they should be confident of a win against a Dover Athletic side that are languishing in the middle of the Football Conference table. However, the Whites are in better form than Palace, with 4 wins and 2 draws to the Eagles’ 4 draws and 2 losses.



Palace will be hoping that Dwight Gayle, their top scorer, will be able to make the difference. Gayle has scored 5 goals in domestic cups from 3 starts over the last 12 months, and Pardew will be hoping he can continue this run, with Gayle at 15.4 fixed odds betting to score first. Yet with only 6 goals this season in total this reflects the struggles Palace have been having in front of goal. Dover have had better luck in front of goal, with their top scorer Stefan Payne on 12 goals this season and at 10/1 to bag the first goal. Yet it is hard to see past the vast difference in leagues, and Spreadex are offering a Crystal Palace/Dover (h) Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 1.2-1.4, with goal scoring odds live during the match.

At 3.30pm on BT Sport 1 there is then the chance for an unlikely, but mouth-watering, upset as Manchester United travel to Huish Park to play Yeovil Town. Yeovil are sat at the rock bottom of League One, whilst United are still in 3rd in the Premier League. Yeovil have the worst home record in League One, and have a mountain of a task ahead of them, even if United field a weakened side.



Unsurprisingly, Spreadex have a Man Utd/Yeovil (h) Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 1.85-2.05. Goals haven’t come freely for Yeovil this season, with their top scorer Kieffer Moore only on 4 goals; United on the other hand, have van Persie and Rooney on 8 apiece. Based on these figures, Spreadex are providing a Total Goals spread betting quote of 3.1-3.3. It is unclear how weakened a team van Gaal will pick; with the likelihood of United winning the league receding more and more each week, van Gaal may want to push for the one cup United can still win. Regardless, even a second-strong United side should be able to brush past one of the worst teams in the lower leagues.

The final game of Sunday sees the perpetually disappointing Arsenal side host Hull City in a recreation of last year’s final. Despite pushing the Gunners to extra time last season, Hull are weaker than they were and currently sit in 15th on the precipice of a relegation battle. Yet Arsenal are notorious for their ability to mess up against teams that, on paper, they should breeze past. Arsene Wenger’s side will take solace in the fact that they have only lost once at home this season, and that they have won their last 6 head-to-heads against Hull.



The Tigers may want to avoid a cup run to focus on staying in the Premier League; however Steve Bruce will be looking to Nikica Jelavic (6 goals), Mohamed Diame (4 goals) and Abel Hernandex (3 goals) to try and make the most of Sunday’s tie. Wenger, on the other hand, will be looking to his new signings of Sanchez and Welbeck to make sure the round goes as planned. Our traders fancy the Gunners at an Arsenal/Hull Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 1.45-1.65 and a Total Goals spread betting quote of 3.1-3.3.