Crystal Palace v Everton tips: FA Cup best bets and preview
The FA Cup action on Sunday kicks off with Crystal Palace hosting Everton and Tom Carnduff has found a best bet to back.
Football betting tips: FA Cup
2pts Crystal Palace to beat Everton at 21/20 (General)
Everton gave their survival chances a huge boost as Alex Iwobi scored a 99th minute winner against Newcastle on Thursday. It pushes them three points clear of Watford in 18th with the Toffees holding two games in-hand.
Attention now turns to their FA Cup trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday but questions will be asked of how much of a priority this competition is given their situation in the Premier League.
Of course, they will want to build momentum but come up against a Palace side safely placed in mid-table. They are 11th - although Infogol's model based on performance has them 8th. That highlights what a great job Patrick Vieira has done at the club.
The good thing about this game is that we can use Premier League statistics to try and reach a verdict. Given that this is the quarter-final stage, we can expect strong line-ups which does make it almost like a league game anyway.
These two faced each other in mid-December and Palace won that contest 3-1. Rightly so based on expected goals (xG) and that metric highlights exactly why the hosts are a strong bet to see a repeat result here.
Put Frankly (get it), Everton have been very bad under Lampard with virtually no chance creation whatsoever.
They've been averaging a remarkably small 0.46 xGF on average per game across their last five in the Premier League, conceding 1.82 xGA per outing across that period.
That's right. Over the past five league contests, Everton have been averaging four times the amount of xGA to xGF. For comparison, while Palace haven't been flying, they have been posting much better numbers.
Palace's five-game average sits at 1.12 xGF with 1.26 xGA. Still a negative, but their total was greatly affected more by a visit of Manchester City than it did to Everton's.
At odds-against, the best bet in this one comes in backing CRYSTAL PALACE TO WIN. Everton may well be boosted by that late, late winner but the numbers are far from inspiring.
Everton's attention should firmly be on Premier League survival - even at this late stage of the FA Cup. Regardless of where the focus is, performances since the managerial switch make any opponent an attractive bet.
Crystal Palace v Everton best bets and score prediction
- 2pts Crystal Palace to beat Everton at 21/20 (General)
Score prediction: Crystal Palace 2-0 Everton (Sky Bet odds: 8/1)
Odds correct at 0900 GMT (18/03/22)
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