FA Cup Fourth Round

With no Premier League action this weekend, EPL teams turn their attention to the biggest cup competition in the country for the FA Cup Fourth Round.

The round begins on Thursday and plays through the weekend until the final game on Monday. Bournemouth kicks off the slate by hosting Swansea before multiple big matches on Friday.

Chelsea welcomes Aston Villa to Stamford Bridge on Friday night, while Manchester City is at Tottenham Hotspur on the same day. The Black Country derby between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers headlines Saturday’s schedule. Liverpool and Manchester United in action on Sunday.

Before placing bets in cup competitions, you want to make sure you pay attention to team news in case any teams play heavily rotated squads. With that said, I’ve picked out my two favorite plays below for my best bets of the FA Cup Fourth Round.

FA Cup Fourth Round – Best Bets

Bristol City vs. Nottingham Forest – Single Game Parlay – Bristol Double Chance and Under 4.5 Goals (-120) BetRivers

This is all about fading a Forest side that is depleted with absentees making a tricky trip to Bristol City. In the loss over the weekend, the Premier League side was without 11 players due to injuries or international duty.

The names missing are some of the stars at the club. In this match, Forest will be without Taiwo Awoniyi, Anthony Elanga, Morgan Gibbs-White, and five other primary starters in defense and midfield.

Those three I named above have either scored or assisted on 21 of the club’s 26 goals in the EPL this season. These missing players are one of the reasons Forest failed to beat League One Blackpool in regular time of either match in the last round of this competition.

Meanwhile, Bristol has already shown it can get by Premier League competition by knocking out West Ham in the Third Round.

I’m tying in the total to bring down the price on double chance to get the full draw on my side. Both of Bristol’s matches against the Hammers went well under 4.5 goals. Also, only four of 11 home league games have eclipsed this total.

Fulham vs. Newcastle United  – Newcastle -0.25 (-105) BetRivers

Yes, here I go again, still believing in the Magpies. However, this is primarily a fade against a Fulham squad coming off one of the biggest games in the club’s history.

On Wednesday night, the Cottagers hosted Liverpool in the second leg of the EFL Cup semifinals. This was the club’s first chance to make a domestic cup final since reaching the final of this competition in 1975.

While the London club came up short, Fulham still pushed the Reds to the very end of the semifinal tie.

Marco Silva’s side now has a quick turnaround against a Newcastle side that likely needs to win this tournament to be playing in Europe next season.

For as bad as the road from in the league has been, the Magpies have shown they are focused on cup competitions. They just dominated local rivals Sunderland in the last round and only lost on penalties at Chelsea in the EFL Cup quarterfinals.

Newcastle is still missing a few players, but I just think this is a classic hangover spot for Fulham here.