Bristol City v Wolves
FA Cup 1.00 pm
BT Sport
More great FA Cup action for Sunday’s best bets of the day focus. Even though this pits Championship side Bristol City against Premier League opposition Wolves, given the form that the two are carrying it could be a really tight battle at Ashton Gate. Bristol City are on a remarkable run of form. The Robins have won each of their last nine fixtures across all competitions. They are on a six-match winning streak at home.
That is the kind of form which the visiting Wolves should be worried about. The Robins have already seen off one Premier League side, taking a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield in the third round. Still, the Robins are 10/3 underdogs at top bookmakers to win this tie. That is because they are facing a Wolves side who are in a pretty confident streak of form themselves.
The Premier League side are unbeaten in six games across all competitions. The goals have been flowing from them recently too. Wolves have scored at least two goals in three of their last four on the road. Overall home and away they have scored at least three goals in five of their last six. With no clean sheet in their last nine away from home though, will they be able to deliver on their 4/5 odds-on favouritism? It should be a really engrossing FA Cup tie.
Doncaster v Crystal Palace
FA Cup – 4.00 pm
BBC One
Premier League side Crystal Palace may have their hands full as they make a trip to The Keepmoat on Sunday. There they will face League One opposition Doncaster. Rovers are actually on a good promotion push in their league and they go into this FA Cup tie with a pretty decent chunk of form behind them. Doncaster have a W8 D2 record in their last 10 home fixtures in all competitions. Rovers have netted at least two goals in each of those fixtures in that sequence.
Will Doncaster, who are the 17/4 underdogs at top bookies, give Palace a run for their money? This is a great thing about the FA Cup, it produces matches like this. Crystal Palace have only won two of their last 11 away games, losing seven of those. So they are not particularly a team in form, and they have conceded at least two goals in four of their last six away from Selhurst Park. The Eagles are 4/7 favourites to produce the win, but this doesn’t look as if it is going to be an easy fixture for them.
Swansea v Brentford
FA Cup – 4.00 pm
BBC
So this is an all-Championship clash in the fifth round of the FA Cup, with Swansea grabbing home advantage. These two have already met in the Championship this season. Swansea earned a one-goal margin victory out on the road against Brentford in that. Swansea are unbeaten in five home games, and they have big head-to-head form over the Bees. Swansea have won their last five in a row against Brentford.
Four of those were actually 2-0 scorelines. Overall Swansea are unbeaten in seven against Brentford. With that head-to-head record behind them and home advantage in this fifth round tie, the Swans are favourites but only out at 7/5 odds with leading bookmakers, who have left Brentford at 19/10 odds for the win. That pretty much tells punters to expect a tight scrap in South Wales.
Bulls v Stormers
Super Rugby 3.15 pm
Sky Sports
With the Six Nations taking a break we head to the Super League for some top rugby union action. This is an all-South African clash between the Bulls and the Stormers. Neither had a particularly great season in the 2018 Super League campaign. The Stormers and the Bulls finished fourth and fifth respectively at the bottom of the South African conference. In the overall standings they were both inside the bottom four. What makes this clash all interesting is that there is a big intense rivalry between the Bulls and the Stormers.
That always adds a nice bit of extra spice to sporting events. In last season’s championship it was a case of both teams making the most of home advantage, trading home successes. This may not be a game between two sides who are going to challenge for success in the Super League this season, but it is a massive rivalry. The leading bookmakers are expecting things to be tight with the Bulls narrowly edging 1/2 favouritism in the odds against the 6/4 on the Stormers.
Motherwell v Hearts
Scottish Premiership – 12.15 pm
BT Sports
We are going to take a dip into the Scottish Premiership to round off the best bets of the day. Ahead of the weekend, of Hearts sat in fifth with Motherwell two places beneath them and a big 10 points back. So there is not a great deal at stake other than looking ahead to the split in the league later in the season. Motherwell have some catching up to do to try and get in the top six. But they have a fantastic winning streak of five straight games in the Premiership currently. Motherwell are running hot and will be looking for a change of fortunes against Hearts.
Hearts have won three games against Motherwell already this season. Those were two 1-0 wins in the league, and a 4-2 Scottish League Cup success over them. Hearts are not going to be a big pushover in this one as they have won four of their last six league games. Hearts have also taken a clean sheet in four of their last six. But while it is Hearts who are 6/4 odds favourites with leading bookmakers, their away form certainly isn’t anything to write home. Hearts have lost four of their last seven away fixtures (W1 D2). But will they be able to make it count against Motherwell again?
