Saturday 17th February 2018

FA Cup Fifth Round

There are only two all-Premier League FA Cup matches during these FA Cup fifth round games – one of which is West Brom v Southampton this Saturday afternoon.

Both teams are in a relegation fight in the league so this cup game will at least be a nice distraction from that.

Southampton are into the Fifth Round after a 1-0 home victory over Watford, while West Brom caused a shock when beating Liverpool 2-3 at Anfield.

However, with Southampton on offer at 26.00 in the outright betting and West Brom 41.00 then the layers can’t see them winning the whole thing and are priced-up accordingly. The Baggies have actually won the FA Cup on 5 occasions and also been runners-up 5 times – the most recent of those was in 1968. Southampton’s only win in this competition came in 1976.

The bookmaker can’t, however, split the pair ahead of this game. The 90mis match betting for this Fifth Round tie is as close as it gets. West Brom can be backed at 2.62, the Draw 3.40 and Southampton 2.60 – while the ‘to qualify’ betting sees Southampton as the slight favourites at 1.80 and West Brom at 2.00.

Being an all-Premier League clash then, of course they’ve already played in the league this season and with that finishing West Brom 2-3 Southampton then if you are a neutral then a repeat of that score would be nice! The Saints have also beaten West Brom at St Mary’s this season 1-0, so clearly head in to the match with the slight edge.

They’ve played 8 times in the FA Cup and Southampton also hold the upper hand on this front too with 4 wins, 3 draws and just one win in this competitions for West Brom.

With only one defeat in their last six games against West Brom then Southampton have quite a significant edge over the Baggies at the moment – while, the Saints have also won their last three when playing them and are unbeaten in their last three away at the Hawthorns.

The Overs/Unders market is a tough call, one as 3 of the last 5 have gone OVER 2.5, but 7 of the last 10 have gone UNDER 2.5. Overs is on offer at the better value 2.20, with Unders 1.65.

Southampton’s Charlie Austin is their main scorer this season with 6 league goals, while Rondon and Rodriguez top the scoring lists for the Baggies with 4 league goals each.

So – it’s a tight call, but we’ll take Southampton to win this one and the 1.80 on them to qualify looks one for the more cautious punters. The Saints have by far the better recent head-to-head form over West Brom, while with the Baggies rooted to the bottom of the Premier League their boss – Alan Pardew – might change things around a bit here – we’ll see! Their recent signing, Daniel Sturridge, also limped off on Monday night in their match over Chelsea and with their top league scorers on just 4 goals then it’s clear they are having issues in front of goal at the moment.

Taking that into account, the 1.90 on offer on Both Teams ‘NOT’ scoring catches the eye. A massive 10 of the last 12 head-to-heads (83%) also went this way so the 1.90 price looks fair value based on those recent clashes.

BEST BET: BOTH TEAMS ‘NOT’ SCORING @1.90

 

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Saturday 17th February 2018

FA Cup Fifth Round

West Bromwich Albion v Southampton 15:00

  • Last met 2018 Premier League, West Brom 2-3 Southampton
  • Met in the FA Cup 8 times, West Brom 1, Draw 3, Southampton 4
  • Last met in the FA Cup in 1979, Southampton 2-1 West Brom
  • Southampton have won both league head-to-heads this season
  • Southampton have won the last 3 head-to-heads
  • Southampton have lost just 1 of their last 6 vs West Brom
  • Southampton have unbeaten in their last 3 away games at West Brom
  • 3 of the last 5 head-to-heads went OVER 2.5 GOALS
  • 7 of the last 10 head-to-heads went UNDER 2.5 GOALS
  • Both teams DIDN’T score in 10 of the last 12 head-to-heads
  • Rodriguez & Rondon (West Brom) are their top league scorers this season (4 goals)
  • Charlie Austin (Southampton) is their top league scorer this season (6 goals)