Exclusive:
Our betting expert with tips for Villa Park, Blackburn-Wolves and Liverpool at Plymouth PLUS a Serie A angle
It’s going to be a bit odd to see Marcus Rashford turning out in an Aston Villa shirt. Or any shirt at all, really.
The England forward and fleeting national treasure hasn’t played in nearly two months, and hasn’t scored since his double on December 1.
Whether or not that was the last time he ‘put it all in’, is a question for Ruben Amorim.
Rashford is expected to line up in front of a sell-out crowd at Villa Park for the FA Cup visit of Tottenham (5.30pm, BBC One).
What punters need to ask is how all-in can a thumb-twiddling Rashford have possibly become in time for today’s game?
The 7/4 ‘anytime scorer’ offers us no wriggle room on that question, given his threadbare stats so far this season.
But Tottenham’s threadbare resources look to be an over-riding factor – and with no Ollie Watkins for Villa, a tight, scrappy one is favoured.
I like Morgan Rogers ‘shown a card’ at 6/1 (Skybet). That’s huge on his stats this term.
Amadou Onana ‘scores a header’ is a ripe worldie at 22/1 (Paddy) assuming he gets the nod.
Have Blackburn Rovers got bigger fish to fry than the FA Cup, ahead of the visit of Wolves this lunchtime (12.30pm, BBC iPlayer)? The answer is very probably not.
Rovers’ promotion push in the Championship has flat-lined – eight points from a possible 30 since Christmas. They look downwardly mobile.
But they will fancy testing Wolves’ set-piece defending, the Prem’s worst. Big Danny Batth is a live longshot at 20/1 (Skybet) ‘anytime scorer’.
Wolves’ Matheus Cunha isn’t a shy shooter – ‘OVER 3.5 shots’ is right at 6/5 (Paddy) if he starts.
Liverpool’s trip to Plymouth Argyle (3pm, ITV) could be the day’s slipperiest banana skin, but the Pilgrims ship too many goals to make serious appeal.
The Reds line-up is guesswork at this point, but with the hosts short of air defence, two ‘scores a header’ pokes look fruity enough if starting – Diogo Jota at 9/1 (Betway) and Jarell Quansah at 16/1 (Betway).
Over in Italy, in-form Romelu Lukaku is a solid coin-flip at 10/11 (Unibet) ‘score or assist’ for Napoli when Udinese visit (7.45pm, Serie A).
Last week: Winners at 7/4, 9/4 and 6/1
