THE STRIKER: previews Sunday’s FA Cup Quarter Finals between CHELSEA v SHEFFIELD UNITED and LEICESTER v MAN U with extended stats and a recommended BETDAQ bet.
The Striker is a professional football punter who focused solely on football in the UK. He has over ten years of experience using exchanges and he’s been a full-time professional punter for more than five years. UK football is his edge and he sticks to it!
Thankfully The Striker has agreed to share his best bets with BETDAQ Tips! He will use a staking system between one and five points to give readers a clue as to how confident he is with each individual bet. He uses his own analysis to price up matches and loves advanced stats like xG, goal stats and current form.
CHELSEA V SHEFFIELD UNITED
1.30pm It’s an all Premier League Sunday in the FA Cup as we play the final two Quarter Finals! We start the day with Chelsea hosting Sheffield United in a game that they really should win. Sheffield United have remained at the bottom of the Premier League table and although they have picked up some wins recently, they haven’t been playing good football. I remember saying they would benefit from the change in competitions and beating lower quality opposition has given them some confidence, but this is where their Cup run ends. Chelsea continued their excellent run since sacking Frank Lampard with a deserved 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid midweek and with the amount of goals Sheffield United have conceded lately this should be a straightforward task.
Even in Sheffield United’s recent 1-0 win over Aston Villa, they conceded an xG of 2.19 and they were very lucky to keep up the win. These sides actually met in the Premier League towards the start of February and Chelsea came out on top with a 2-1 win. I think they can score more here given the way they have played since – plus the fact that Sheffield United have been conceding chances for fun lately. They conceded five against Leicester last weekend, two against Southampton and Liverpool while they also gave away an xG of 2.19 against Villa along with conceding three to West Ham. Chelsea -2 goals on the Asian Handicap is worth backing at around 2.0 here in my opinion. A two goal win will void stakes which is a nice feature in Asian Handicap betting, but I can see Chelsea scoring more.
The Striker Says:
Two points win Chelsea -2 goals Asian Handicap to beat Sheffield United at 2.0 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQCheShu
MATCH STATS
- Chelsea have won four of their five previous FA Cup ties against Sheffield United, with this the first such meeting between the sides since 1992. However, Sheffield United’s sole win against the Blues in the competition was the 1915 final at Old Trafford, lifting their third FA Cup trophy after a 3-0 win.
- Since the 1992 FA Cup clash between Chelsea and Sheffield United, the Blues have won three of the last six meetings between the sides at Stamford Bridge (D1 L2), though these matches range between 1992 and 2020 – all in the top-flight.
- Chelsea are appearing in their 15th FA Cup quarter-final since the turn of the millennium – the most of any side – and are looking to reach the semi-finals for the fourth time in the last five seasons, missing out in 2018-19 after a fifth round defeat against Manchester United.
- Sheffield United have reached back-to-back FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2002-03 & 2003-04, though they haven’t qualified for the semi-finals whilst playing in the top-flight since 1992-93, beating Blackburn on penalties following a replay.
- Chelsea have won 19 of their last 23 FA Cup matches played on home soil (D2 L2), winning the last four in a row.
- Sheffield United have won each of their last three away games in the FA Cup, though they’ve lost six of the last nine when travelling to face top-flight opposition (W3).
- Coming into the quarter-final ties, no player has scored more FA Cup goals this season than Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, who has netted four times from four shots on target. The last Chelsea player to score more in a single campaign was Frank Lampard in 2006-07 (6).
- Billy Sharp has netted each of Sheffield United’s last two goals in the FA Cup, scoring the winners against Plymouth Argyle (fourth round) and Bristol City (fifth round) – he has never scored more than twice in the same FA Cup campaign.
LEICESTER V MANCHESTER UNITED
5pm We have saved the best until last as we finish the FA Cup Quarter Finals with Leicester hosting Man United. All eyes will be on this one on BETDAQ Betting Exchange and we have an open market too. Both sides look highly likely to finish in the Top Four this season in the Premier League so they can afford to “go for it” here and name a strong XI. United also have Europa League commitments, but their chances of catching Man City are slim to none and with a good cushion in the race for the Top Four they can set their sights on the Cups. Brendan Rodgers made the mistakes of resting players in the Europa League and crashed out, and while Top Four is obviously a huge result for Leicester, I don’t see him making the same mistakes again so we should have an excellent game.
Both sides come into the fixture in good form, with Leicester hammering Sheffield United 5-0 and United beating Man City recently while grinding out a 1-0 win over West Ham last weekend. United had a massive 1-0 win over AC Milan on Thursday in the Europa League and I can see a very similar game here – a very tight game with few chances. Both sides are in rock solid form and they could easily cancel each other out. Under 2.5 goals is a tempting bet but both sides generate a fair amount of chances so I’m happy to take the 3.55 on the draw here which looks too big.
The Striker Says:
One point win Draw at 3.55 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQLeiMnu
MATCH STATS
- Manchester United have won each of the previous two FA Cup clashes with Leicester City, a 2-1 win in the fifth round in 1976 and a 3-1 victory in the 1963 final of the competition – lifting the trophy for the third time.
- Leicester have won just one of their last 25 meetings with Manchester United in all competitions (D5 L19), and none of the last 13 (D4 L9) since a 5-3 win at home in September 2014 in the Premier League.
- Manchester United are looking to reach the FA Cup semi-finals for a record 31st time, with the Red Devils currently level with Arsenal on appearances in the last four of the competition.
- Leicester, who have lost each of their last five quarter-final ties in the FA Cup, last reached the semi-final of the competition back in 1982, when they lost 0-2 to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park.
- Leicester have won six of their last eight FA Cup matches on home soil (L2), though both of their defeats across this run have come at the quarter-final stage against Chelsea, in 2017-18 and 2019-20.
- Manchester United have won 12 of their last 15 FA Cup matches away from home (D1 L2), with their two defeats during this run coming at the quarter-final stage, versus Chelsea in 2016-17 and Wolves in 2018-19.
- Excluding own goals, only Bristol Rovers and Spurs (9) have had more different goalscorers in this season’s FA Cup than Leicester City, with each of their eight goals coming from a different player (Justin, Albrighton, Pérez, Barnes, Ünder, Tielemans, Maddison & Iheanacho).
- Only against Brighton (5) and Southampton (6) has Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjær taken charge of more matches at English clubs without losing than he has versus Leicester (P4 W3 D1 L0).
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