The Set Odds' 4-4-2 Betting System: Post-Weekend Review [FA Cup 3rd Round]

Hello all,

What an exciting FA Cup weekend we had with plenty of goals, shocks and a 16/1 winner!

Before Friday night’s Merseyside derby Virgil van Dijk was the main talking point, and despite the most expensive defender in history being handed a baptism of fire of a debut against Liverpool‘s local rivals Everton in the FA Cup third, it was water off a Dijk’s back.

I tipped him up at 16s to get the Man of the Match award, which seemed a huge price, and it turned out to be a wise investment as he put in a solid display and capped it off perfectly by heading home the winner to land us a lovely post-Crimbo coffers boost.

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We were up and down over the festive period, it didn’t start too well but picked up towards the end with 15/2 and 16/1 winners.

I restricted the stakes somewhat towards the end of the festive period as the starting line-ups were getting tricky to predict, and did the same in the FA Cup, thankfully.

The well-documented “magic of the Cup” was in full force over the weekend, but this wasn’t great for my three tips.

It could be a baptism of fire for Virgil van Dijk on Friday night if he makes his debut in the Merseyside derby – I've had a 16/1 bet on him, plus 10/1 and 16/5 wagers on the match: https://t.co/KffZwQ1r9E

— The 12,000/1 Tipster (@TheSetOdds) January 4, 2018

Sitting through my side Villa being shocked at home against Peterborough in a 3-1 defeat – it should’ve been about 7-1 to Posh, and that’s being kind to Villa – was particularly tough to take because I had put them up as part of the Win 5fold.

Premier League Bournemouth also failed to beat League One Wigan at home, and in League Two in-form Colchester were quashed by my home town club Cheltenham in a surprise 4-1 defeat.

So, it wasn’t to be in the FA Cup but there were some great games over the weekend, including the Merseyside derby on the Friday and Nottingham Forest’s superb display against Arsenal on Sunday in their 4-2 win.

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Arsene Wenger will no doubt name a completely different Gunners side against Chelsea on Wednesday when the two face off in the second semi-final of the League Cup. Look out for a Big Match Preview coming your way for that one soon.

The first semi takes place on Tuesday when Man City host Championship outfit Bristol City.

City are rightly favourites for the home tie but their odds are so short I’m not going to bother getting involved in them for a straight win.

I do fancy them to do the business quite comfortably against a Robins side who were stuffed 5-0 by Villa away from home on New Year’s Day, so one way of ensuring some decent odds is backing City to win both halves.

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This is a shade under Evens at 19/20 and I think represents a fairly decent price for them to get the job done with ease on their own patch.

From a fantasy football and betting point of view it’s been tough trying to predict Pep Guardiola’s line-ups this season with such an embarrassment of riches to call upon.

Judging by their FA Cup game, I fancy Kevin De Bruyne to start on Tuesday after he only played 15 minutes from the bench on Saturday, and at big odds of 8/1 I like the look of him to net first against the Championship side.