Arsenal v Manchester United
FA Cup -7:55 pm
BBC
There is no shortage of action on Friday night to start off my best bets of the day. It is FA Cup time and the two most successful clubs in the history of the competition will go head-to-head at the Emirates Stadium. It is Arsenal with home advantage for this heavyweight scrap in the fourth round. The last time that Arsenal and Manchester United met in the FA Cup was in 2015. It was the Gunners who came away with a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford on that occasion. Arsenal have won two of their last three home games against the Red Devils without conceding.
But Manchester United collected a 3-1 win in their last trip to Arsenal, which was in the Premier League in early December 2017. The overall FA Cup head-to-head between these two is slightly in favour of Manchester United. The Red Devils lead Arsenal 7-6 with two drawn games from previous FA Cup meetings. In this season’s EPL, Arsenal earned a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, twice throwing away a lead that they had earned. It should be tight and it has the potential of being packed full of goals. The leading bookmakers have the over 2.5 goals option at 3/5 odds-on. Manchester United have come to life with seven straight wins across all competitions, but they face an Arsenal side who have won six of their last seven games on home soil.
Novak Djokovic v Lucas Pouille
Australian Open – 8.30 am
Eurosport
Okay, I’m going to have to haul myself out of bed early for this. But this is the semi-final stage of the Australian Open and it is going to be worth it. Djokovic is still the tournament outright favourite and the winner of this match will be going up against Rafael Nadal in the Final on the weekend. The Serbian is the heavy odds-on favourite to win this match, so much so, that he is at 4/9 odds to make a clean sweep with a 3-0 set victory. Six-time Australian Open champion Djokvoic has only dropped two sets on his way to the semifinals this year. He got something of a break in the last round as his opponent Kei Nishikori retired in the middle of the second set.
Lucas Pouille has written a pretty incredible story at this season’s Australian Open. He had made five previous attempts at this Grand Slam and had lost every match. But he has turned all of that poor Grand Slam form on its head in Melbourne over the last week or so to reach the final four. The Frenchman has been involved in some gruelling matches, each of the last four going to at least four sets. He has faced a tie-break into sets in each of his last four matches at the tournament. He has just found ways to dig in and get through the challenges of the likes of 11th seed Borna Coric and 16th seed Milos Raonic. Will he get any further though? This will be his first ever meeting against current world number one Djokovic. DJokovic has never lost a semi final match at Melbourne Park.
Marseille v Lille
Ligue 1 – 7.45 pm
BT sport
There is some top action from the French Ligue 1 coming up on Friday night. This is a clash between two of the current top seven in the standings. The league title looks well set to stay with PSG, but Lille are starting the game in second place trying to fend off the attentions of Lyon. Lyon are only three points back from them. Lille have won their last two league games and they have collected victory in each of their last three away from home in the French top flight. Will they be able to keep that streak going though as they are 5/2 underdogs with leading bookmakers for this game?
They will be taking on Marseille who have only lost one league home game this season. They need to be on their toes as they are trying to push for a top-four finish. Marseille start this one five points outside the top four, still having a lot of work to do to push for a place in Europe next season. They can ill afford to slip up in this game. But they have just been struggling for form lately with one win only in their last six league fixtures. But they have been superb in defence at home this season. Will that be able to push them towards a vitally important home victory?
Glasgow v Ospreys
Pro 14 Rugby – 7.35 pm
Premier Sports
Very shortly I will be turning all of my attention onto the Six Nations 2019. But this weekend there is some good action coming from the Pro14 where Glasgow will be playing host to Ospreys. This is a clash between second and third in Conference A with Glasgow holding a narrow five-point lead over the Welsh club. This is matchday 14 of this season’s tournament and the Glasgow Warriors will be looking to strengthen their position in their chase of conference leaders Munster. The Irish powerhouses are two points clear of them heading into the weekend. When Glasgow and the Ospreys met earlier this season it was Glasgow who came out on top 29-20 in Wales.
That is the only home defeat that the Ospreys have suffered in this season’s Conference. Will the Ospreys be able to get some revenge? It won’t be easy as Glasgow are unbeaten in their three home fixtures so far (against Conference A sides) and their defence has been pretty watertight. The Warriors are heavy odds-on favourites to win this, but they did take a bit of a licking in a European Champions Cup defeat at Saracens last weekend.
To be fair to both, neither are in any particularly great form with Glasgow having lost four of their last five games in all competitions. The Ospreys have lost three of their last four played. The leading bookmakers have the Ospreys at 10/11 odds to defend a +13 handicap.
