FA Cup 5th Round Replays (24/02)

Tottenham v Bolton
Stoke City v Manchester City
West Bromwich Albion v Reading
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace


Wednesday, February 24

Tottenham v Bolton

Verdict: 10 days following the 1-1 draw at The Reebok, these two sides meet again in this 5th Round FA Cup replay. The visitors are winless in their last 6 encounters (in all competitions) and are firmly intrenched in a relegation battle, sitting in 18th position in the league. Worse still, they face relegation rivals Wolverhampton in 3 days time so it is expected that manager, Owen Coyle, will ring the changes this evening with the big up coming clash in mind. Tottenham face a big game themselves on Sunday, against form side Everton, but the London club have quality players like Pavlyuchenko and Gudjohnsen that are ready to step in and show the manager they are worthy of a regular starting spot.

Tottenham have been impressive at White Hart Lane all season and have the firepower to overcome the visitors. Bolton are winless in their last 11 games on the road and scoreless in five of their last six. This does not bode well for The Wanderers, especially as they are set to field a weakened team.

Pick: Tottenham -1.25AH @1.73 (5Dimes, 10 units)
Tottenham 4 - 0 Bolton

Stoke City v Manchester City

Verdict: These teams meet for the 3rd time in 11 days after consecutive 1-1 draws. This time though, Stoke City are decimated by injury/suspension issues, especially in defence. Faye, Higginbotham, and Wilkinson are unavailable for this encounter which is a concern for the home side. Manchester City themselves have been far from convincing this season but are a difficult team to beat.

Bellamy returning for the visitors is a big plus and he along with Adebayor do have the ability to break down a make-shift Stoke City defence.

Pick: Manchester City DNB @1.79 (10bet, 10 units)
Stoke City 1 - 1 Manchester City