Football League Cup

As the League Cup reaches the last 16 stage it is Chelsea who are the 5/1 (Bwin/ladbrokes) favourites ahead of Arsenal 11/2 (Totesport/betfred). Liverpool are 7/1 (general) to reclaim the trophy while Man Utd and Tottenham are also both 7/1 (general). Those looking for teams at a little bigger price can get Sunderland at 12/1 (general), Villa at 18/1 (Coral), Wigan 22/1 (Coral), Swansea 28/1 (boylesports), Southampton 33/1 (william hill) and Norwich 33/1 (general). At even bigger prices Leeds are 40/1 (general), Reading 40/1 (general, Middlesbrough 66/1 (william hill), Swindon 100/1 (general) and big outsiders Bradford 500/1 (Coral).

Tuesday night sees five of the eight ties with Leeds taking on Southampton in the televised game. These two teams have met twice before in the history of this competition with the Saints coming through on both occasions though this time bookmakers are leaning towards Leeds. It is 8/5 (Stan James) a Leeds victory, while Southampton are 135/67 (pinnacle) and the draw is a best priced 13/5 (Stan James). Jay Rodriguez netted twice in the last round and looks in line to start here. It is 8/1 (ladbrokes) that he scores first and 5/2 (ladbrokes) to score anytime decent odds on a good striker up against a Leeds side who have kept a clean sheet in just one of their last 11. The best bet of the games on Tuesday night is to take Swindon to see off Aston Villa. It is 5/2 (paddy Power) a Swindon victory in the 90 minutes or 7/5 (BWin) on them to qualify through any means. Swindon enter this game full of confidence after seeing off Stevenage 4-0 while Villa limped to a draw with Norwich. Villa have won just one of their last six League Cup games away from home and despite seeing off Man City in the last round I can see Villa being the victims of a giant killing act here. In the other games Tuesday night Reading host Arsenal, Sunderland entertain Middlesbrough and Bradford (the lowest ranked surviving team) travel to Wigan.

On Wednesday night the three remaining games take place with all three of them being all Premier League games. The live match is tie of the round as Chelsea take on Man United though I would expect to see two very different teams from those on the pitch Sunday. Javier Hernandez could be handed a start up front and if so the goal scoring machine looks great value at 9/1 (bet365) to grab the opener or 5/2 (bet365/Skybet/paddy Power) to score at anytime. As for the match odds it is Chelsea who are the 7/5 (William Hill) favourites to win the game, Man Utd are 21/10 (general) while the draw is a best priced 77/29 (pinnacle). Tottenham look good things at 10/11 (William Hill) to see off Norwich when these two sides meet in the last 16. Norwich boss Chris Hughton has already admitted that he may be forced to rest a few players as the game with Stoke on Saturday is more important than the one with Tottenham. Andre Vilas Boas will be keen to land some a trophy in his first season at the club and has the much deeper squad. The likes of Adebayor, Naughton, Sigurdsson can come into the first 11 and no real fall of in quality will be noticed. Norwich do not have that luxury and I expect Spurs to come out on top here.

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Tottenham to beat Norwich, 10/11 (William Hill)
SILVER: Swindon to beat Aston Villa, 5/2 (paddy Power)
BRONZE: Javier Hernandez to score v Chelsea, first 9/1 (bet365), anytime 5/2 (bet365/Skybet/paddy Power).

Go To bet365

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30/10/2012     © Frixo 2024