English FA CUP
2011-01-18 - Wolverhampton W vs Doncaster Rovers
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football: England: FA Cup 3rd Round Replay
Tuesday 18th January 2011 – Kickoff 7.45pm
Premier League side Wolves take on Championship outfit Doncaster Rovers when they meet again to settle the 3rd round replay at Molineaux on Tuesday night and secure a home tie in the 4th round against either Stoke City or Cardiff City.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves were held to an entertaining 2-2 draw at The Keepmoat last weekend, and now have a second bite of the cherry to finish off their visitors on their home ground.
In similar fasjion to their neighbours West Brom, Wolves have been a tad unlucky in recent times, losing by just the one goal margin to the likes of Wigan Athletic 1-2 at home, and yesterday at Manchester City going down 3-4 despite a spirited display.
But Wolves will certainly gain confidence from recent wins over Liverpool and Chelsea, winning both fixtures 1-0.
Their Premiership home record stands at a reasonable 5-2-4 15/15, and it's interesting to note that Wolves have scored in all but one of their eleven home matches in the league so far, the only exception was a 0-2 loss at home to Arsenal back in November. Conversely, they've managed only two clean sheets so far also.
With the 4th round ties already having been drawn, I wouldn't mind betting that Mick McCarthy puts out a decent side against Doncaster as Wolves would probably fancy either potential opponents Stoke or Cardiff at home, so Ebanks-Blake (4 goals, 3 assists), Steven Fletcher (4 goals) and Kevin Doyle (1 goal, 3 assists) could all figure in this important tie, if only to gain some confidence should they score for their important second half of the Premiership season.
Doncaster Rovers
Visitors Doncaster Rovers have absolutely nothing to lose when they make the trip down to the midlands on Tuesday night. The Championship side have an outside chance of reaching the play-offs while the possibility of relegation remains a slender one, their mid-table position would enable them to field a strong side in an attempt to knock out their Premiership opponents who have real relegation worries.
Donny have done enough so far to secure their Championship status, but they still lack a couple of real quality players to make a serious push for promotion. Their away record of 3-3-6 18/27 is a bit of a concern, with only Leicester City (31 goals) and Crystal Palace (34 goals) having conceded more away from home.
But this statistic augers well for my prediction; Doncaster have failed to score on just three occasions out of their twelve away from home, while keeping a clean sheet just the once which was a 2-0 win at Preston North End in the opening match of the season.
Rovers possess some dangerous players of their own in strikers Billy Sharp (10 goals, 3 assists) & James Hayter (8 goals), while midfielders James Coppinger (6 goals, 7 assists) and John Oster (6 assists) provide the ammunition.
The Betting Verdict :
Both sides will have genuine belief that they can progress into the next round, so therefore I'm backing both to score in what should be an entertaining cup replay.
