FA Cup betting – Southampton vs Manchester United

Southampton vs Manchester United betting preview

Southampton

Southampton are having a good season in League 1, however this is the FA cup and as we have seen in the past we are to expect the unexpected in this tournament. One of the main spectacles of the day is going to be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the English born winger who is subject to intense transfer speculation about whether he will move to Arsenal or Manchester United. With all of this pressure Oxlade-Chamberlain could pull all the stops out, making a bet on him scoring a goal anytime in the fixture all the more tempting at odds of 6.5 on SkyBet.

Southampton last faced Manchester United in this tournament 7 years ago when Southampton were still in the Premier League, the result was 3-0 to United that day, whether we will see a repeat of this is another question, the odds of this happening are 12.0 on PaddyPower and at that price definitely worth a shout. Check out the latest FA cup free bets.

Manchester United

Manchester United are sitting at the dizzy heights of the Premier League summit now and don’t look like they are going to be moved any time soon. So surely a tie away against a team 48 positions beneath them in the football league should cause them no bother, but alas it is ties like this that always seem to catch the Red Devils out. Firstly United are without young Brazilian right-back Rafael, secondly it is probably to be expected that Sir Alex will give some of his youngsters a run out. So the likes of Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling, Michael Owen and Tiago Bebe could be handed rare starts. Michael Owen always had a good run of form against Southhampton when he played under Gerard Houlier scoring three times against them for Liverpool, so he is good value for money at 6.0 on Bet365 to open the scoring.

It’s hard to look beyond United for this tie, since while upsets do happen and taking into account that United may field a second string team, there is still too much quality in the United side for it to be beaten by a side battling for automatic promotion in league 1. While Southampton will show some fighting spirit and not go down easy there could be a few goals in it.

Highlighted Bets

Anytime Goalscorer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 6.5 SkyBet
Correct Score Man U 3-0 at best odds 12.0 with Paddy Power
First Goalscorer Michael Owen 6.0 bet365

By John Fernandez

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches