Football betting tips: FA Cup
1.5pts Aston Villa to win at 6/5 (General)
1pt Kieran Trippier to be carded at 17/4 (William Hill)
***All bets in 90 minutes
Both Aston Villa, last season's FA Cup semi-finalists, and Newcastle, last season's Carabao Cup winners, will be wanting to put another cup run together and contend for the FA Cup, meaning we should expect full-strength teams from both.
But one of these teams finished in the top eight of their respective European competition and the other didn't, meaning one of them has a huge European game just three days after this. That team would be Newcastle, who have to travel to Azerbaijan to face Qarabag on Wednesday.
How does Eddie Howe approach this then? Will he save some of his star players? We can assume given Villa have a free midweek that Unai Emery will play his best side, and that makes them an appealing proposition.
The Magpies won in midweek at Tottenham, but how much we can take from that given how bad Spurs have been remains to be seen, and before that success they had won just one of nine - a 3-0 home Champions League success against PSV.
Away from home it's just four wins in 20 across all competitions this season, beating Union St-Gilloise (27th in UCL), Everton, Burnley (19th in PL) and Tottenham (16th in PL), with eight defeats. A fully focused ASTON VILLA look a solid bet to TO WIN IN 90 MINUTES.
Fresh from a hard-fought 1-0 win over Brighton, Villa have now won 23 of their last 30 matches in all competitions which is an incredible level of consistency.
At home they have won 13 of their last 15 and should be trusted to get another win in front of their own fans. It's also worth mentioning that these sides have played twice already in the league this season, with Villa yet to concede and winning 2-0 at St. James' Park only a few weeks ago.
We also have to keep backing opposing right-backs getting carded against Villa. Six of the last eight right-backs to face them have been carded, with the left-hand-side of Emery's team wreaking havoc.
KIERAN TRIPPIER should be the man in that position for Newcastle, with a raft of defensive injuries for Howe's men meaning he won't be able to rest. He's 17/4 TO BE CARDED here which looks big given Villa's record.
He hasn't been the most forthcoming with cards over his career but the way Villa attack down their left should put him in some precarious positions.
Chris Kavanagh is the man with the whistle and he's averaged 3.87 cards per game, and has refereed Newcastle three times this season showing five, seven and eight cards in those games, with two of those cup games.
Odds correct at 15:30 GMT (12/2/26)
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