FA Cup Predictions

This selection centres around Stockport. 1.10 favourites to win this one, the odds alone suggest they should fill their boots against a side several steps below them.

Brackley are going fairly well, 8th in the National League North. Their games average 2.4 goals, nothing crazy, but they’re up against a frightening prospect here.

County cruised to a 3-0 win at the weekend, they’ve also racked up some other big results lately with a 5-0 win over Bolton and a 4-1 drubbing of Reading. After promotion from League Two, they are flying and now find themselves 4th in League One.

In the league, Stockport average a hefty 1.75 xG, and there’s talent right across this team. But we have to talk about Louie Barry, on loan from Aston Villa.

Barry is ridiculous, quite frankly. He shouldn’t be playing in League One. He’s netted 13 goals domestically so far, and I’d urge you to watch them. The quality is ridiculous, and he could make a dent in covering the over 2.5 goal line himself.

Carlisle are in complete disarray at the moment, struggling with both results and a play style that doesn’t suit the squad Mike Williamson has available. He may view this game as a “free hit” to experiment and test new ideas against a stronger side like Wigan, who recently drew with Blackpool after letting a two-goal lead slip. While I’m not fully convinced by Maloney or Wigan, I believe their player quality will shine through here, and their young squad should be able to get the job done. Carlisle have consistently struggled defensively on the flanks, and one advantage Wigan brings is a roster of high-level 1v1 players.

The Wombles’ victory away at Tranmere on Tuesday night has seen them climb into the League Two play-off places. That was a rare away win, with the vast majority of their points being taken at Plough Lane.

They have been superb on their own turf. The last 3 have seen a slight wobble, but prior to that it was a clean sweep with 5 wins from their first 5.

Wimbledon are built to be direct, and very difficult to play against. They’re physical, but with enough pockets of technical ability to really cause teams problems, especially in front of their own fans. They’re also real menaces from set-plays.

At home, they’ve averaged 1.58 xG and restricted their opponents to an average of just 0.91.

No side has allowed lower xGA in the entirety of League Two, which makes for a daunting task for the National League visitors.

Especially for a side who have been woeful on the road. Dags have won just 1 away league match, scoring just 8 goals in 10 outings, which looks to be a recipe for a tough afternoon when facing a side who give you so little.

They did win away at Crewe in the last round to get to this stage, but I can’t see them repeating that magic.

Things are looking up for The Stones at the moment, who are now unbeaten in 5 matches, following a dreadful start to the campaign. They do still find themselves 19th though, and they have very much scraped a couple of recent results.

This’ll be a step too far for the hosts. Wycombe are absolutely flying, and it just feels like everything is going their way at the moment. They’re getting the proverbial ‘rub of the green’, summed up as Luke Leahy’s 92nd minute cross flew in to the top corner on Tuesday night.

That 1-0 victory over Mansfield took them 4 points clear at the League One summit. They’re unbeaten in 12, of which 11 have been wins. Incredible form.

They really do have it all. They’ve got technical players, they’ve got pace, they’ve got height and physicality to call on and they’ve got that toughness that you need to succeed in the EFL – also the exact type of toughness that should allow them to take a game like this in their stride.

There may be some rotation here from Matt Bloomfield, but Wanderers aren’t short of depth and any side they field will be man for man stronger than their opponents.

The hosts have scored just 7 goals at home, in the league this season. So a visit of the League One leaders looks a daunting prospect.

Cup weekend is always full of goals because teams play without pressure and look to either try new things or give the squad players more game time, which can lead to high scoring games, as we saw with both of these sides in the round before. Chesterfield will go their full of confidence that they can score a few goals but also win, and Exeter will want to try and gain some confidence back from the recent results they’ve had. I suspect Kamari Doyle will come back in for this one with Chesterfield also welcoming some first team players back after injury that should get some minutes here.

I went with this last time out vs Reading and with just my luck it didn’t cop despite Posh missing a couple of sitters before eventually scoring in the 96th minute. Surely this can’t happen again, and with Notts County coming to town who score and ship goals, the same way Peterborough do, there’s no way this is a goal shy game. Between both of these sides in the league so far, there’s been 99 goals in their games. Granted the home team have done the heavy lifting, and Notts have improved defensively, they’re still capable of a 4-2 game vs Bromley or a 3-3 vs Shrewsbury, or you could go back to last season where they shipped goals for fun, they certainly have it in them to concede given how aggressive they are with the way they play out from the back.

At this point I’m trying to get against Bristol Rovers. I know they beat Mansfield recently but if you saw that game, no way Mansfield should have lost. And the performance vs Blackpool was uninspiring to say the least. Barnsley aren’t the best at home but I back the better coached, better squad to get the job done. Also, when a coach is under pressure, from being in an environment like that, sometimes it’s the worst game the squad wants as the motivation levels are low and the squad players aren’t happy either because they want more playing time due to underperformance in the league. I think it’s also worth pointing out that Bristol Rovers have conceded an xGA of 28.08 in League One this season, which is the worst in the division.