Sergio Aguero celebrates
Sergio Aguero celebrates

Free football betting tips and odds: Sunday action in the fourth round of the FA Cup


So far this weekend we've found four FA Cup winners from four selections. Find out how we're attacking Sunday's remaining fourth-round ties.

Recommended bets: Sunday FA Cup

0.5pt Chelsea to beat Newcastle 3-1 at 11/1

0.5pt Chelsea to beat Newcastle 4-1 at 22/1

1pt Sergio Aguero to score 2+ v Cardiff at 7/2

For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record

Chelsea v Newcastle (1330 GMT, live on BT Sport)

Two more matches to go before Chelsea can wave goodbye to January, a month in which they've drawn as many games as the previous four combined.

Their frustrations were just about summed up with a midweek Carabao Cup exit, this despite leading early at Arsenal with the only away goal of the tie. Over two legs, there's little doubt Chelsea were the better side but, as with five draws in 14 days, they ultimately fell short of what was required.

While the challenge of a Champions League encounter with Barcelona next month is one this club will genuinely relish, the sort of tie which might perk them up a bit, there's little doubt that the FA Cup now represents their best bet when it comes to following up a Premier League-winning campaign with any kind of silverware.

Coming up short against Newcastle is borderline unthinkable, and would dramatically increase the chances of Antonio Conte exiting this summer on the back of an empty campaign.

Newcastle are one of the dozen sides locked in a relegation scrap for the ages and won't yet see this competition as a genuine opportunity to win a trophy of note at long last, but they do look capable of testing Chelsea as they did for the first third of a 3-1 defeat here in December.

Rafa Benitez won't be able to call on Kenedy, who arrived on loan from Chelsea earlier this week, but defensive reinforcements are returning and there's been end-product to Joselu's performances of late. Ayoze Perez has some good memories of this ground and scored a brace against Luton in the third round and throw in Dwight Gayle, who scored here last month, and there's enough for the hosts to worry about regardless of who gets the nod.

With Willian, Cesc Fabregas and Alvaro Morata out, Ross Barkley seems likely to make his full Chelsea debut having shown glimpses of what he can do against Arsenal, but so much will again depend on Eden Hazard. Arsenal's game plan revolved around stopping him, and once they managed to they were back in the game. For Newcastle the aim will be to work out how to do that before it's too late.

My expectation is that Chelsea will be too good but that the visitors might get on the score sheet, something they've managed at the Etihad and Old Trafford, as well as here, so with the hosts short enough perhaps the best option is to split small stakes between 3-1 (11/1) and 4-1 (22/1).

Those looking for a more straightforward option should consider Chelsea on the one-goal handicap. They've covered it five times in succession when hosting Newcastle but, more relevantly, showed last weekend against Brighton that an early goal would soon see confidence course through them in a competition which, notwithstanding the Norwich debacle, tends to see them progress through the early rounds with a degree of serenity.

Prediction: Chelsea 3-1 Newcastle

Cardiff v Man City (1600 GMT, live on BBC1)

As Championship tests go, Manchester City could've found a more straightforward one than a trip to Cardiff, who roared back into form with eight goals in two matches in the middle of the month before a decent point on the road at Sheffield Wednesday last time.

Neil Warnock's side appear fairly one-dimensional and can't get close to matching City on the floor, but they're organised and physical enough to make life difficult for the champions elect as their quadruple tilt continues. Like Bristol City before them, with a bit of luck and a stout defensive performance, they could make City work for their place in the next round.

It has, though, been impressive to see Pep Guardiola plot a course to multiple trophies. Yes, yes, we know he's fortunate enough to have bottomless pockets and all the rest, but others before him would've sacrificed - or at least risked sacrificing - more than one domestic trophy by now. That Guardiola has chosen not to suggests his ambitions are set way beyond the ceiling of the Premier League.

This isn't to say they've been infallible, and one would imagine an unbeaten league campaign was closer to mind than the Spaniard suggested prior to that Liverpool defeat. But Guardiola's team selection to this point tells us that, whatever the result, Cardiff are unlikely to be presented with a genuinely softened version of England's best side.

Ilkay Gundogan and Oleksandr Zinchenko are two who are expected to continue to impress for City, the latter having done so as a makeshift left-back recently, but finding a way to profit from that prediction is difficult and an altogether simpler approach may prove best on this occasion.

Sergio Aguero has failed to score in only eight of the games he's started this season and looks generously priced to score two or more here at 7/2, something he did against Burnley in the previous round before a hat-trick in the Premier League last weekend. On the latter, he's never managed three in a season before but has time to address that statistic anomaly and, at 14/1, is very fairly priced to do so here.

Aguero has made hay against Championship opponents such as Norwich, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Leeds, Watford and Huddersfield over the years and while Cardiff boast one of the best defensive records in the Championship, one look at Aguero's finish on Tuesday will remind them that they're dealing with something altogether different this time.

Prediction: Cardiff 0-3 Man City

Posted at 1405 GMT on 27/01/18.

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