This Time Next Year - Weekend Preview | 11th & 12th January 2025

This Time Next Year.. Weekend Preview | 11th & 12th January 2025

By Stuart Court January 10, 2025 #ThisTimeNextYear

Welcome back to the This Time Next year blog. Before I get into the weekend's games, let's have a quick look back at how we did with our predictions from the Cup semi finals during the week.

Firstly, I wish I'd backed my initial thoughts about the Arsenal v Newcastle game. I spent the entire preview basically saying I didn't fancy Arsenal and I really liked Newcastle. Then sat on the fence and opted for a 1-1 prediction. Crazy. Back your gut instinct folks! However, the tip for the game was Anthony Gordon to continue his form and have at least 1+ shot on target which he duly did by netting the second goal on the night. Easy money at 6/5.

On Wednesday we witnessed Spurs yet again proving how difficult they are to judge. Terrible outings followed by their most solid display of the season in a 1-0 win against Liverpool. Highly controversial given that Bergvall should probably have been sent off 2 minutes before he scored the winner but that's football. Tip wise, Gakpo let us down despite having two great opportunities to give us a clean sweep for the week.

Now, onto the FA Cup! I've selected 8 games over the two days to preview but I could easily have sat here writing about them all for hours longer. There's some wonderful games to keep an eye on!

Bristol City v Wolves

The Robins have won 3 of their last 4 games, drawing the other. The 3 wins have all been at home whilst not conceeding a single goal and scoring 5 in the process. Albanian midfielder Anis Mehmeti has bagged 3 of the goal in that unbeaten run and with City on the cusp of the play-offs in the Championship, it makes them a very tasty proposition at 15/8.

Wolves beat Leicester and Manchester United in back to back games at the end of December but that has been sandwiched by 5 losses and 1 draw including 4 defeates against fellow relegation threatened teams. Monday's 3-0 home defeat against Nottingham Forest makes you wonder if panic will set in and the FA Cup might be sacrificed as a result.

It's got 'upset' written all over it whilst I doubt anyone would actually be surprised if they were to see a home win pop up on the vidiprinter.

Liverpool v Accrington Stanley

Liverpool produced back to back poor performances for the first time all season with the draw with Manchester United followed by defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Wednesday. However, even the biggest rival fan would be hard pushed to predict tht run continuing on Saturday. There's likely to be a number of changes to the starting 11 but these days, even the reserves are full of quility at Anfield.

Accrington head into the game following two impressive displays winning at Colchester and at home to Grimsby Town. Scoring 5 in the process. Those two wins dragged them away from the relegation places for the time being though it has potential to be a long hard season for Stanley. 37 year old Shaun Whalley turned in a season's best performance last Saturday scoring both goals and dominating the game. His reward will be trying to contain the Liverpool midfield infront of 61,000.

Tip - Liverpool to win with most corners and most shots on target, Accrington receiving most cards 11/8

I'm sure we're all going the same way on this one. A comfortable Liverpool win with the only dependant being the line up they play. And even then, that will likely only affect the number of goals they win by. Comfy whatever the weather.

Norwich City v Brighton

Despite a relative poor season going into the Christmas period, the Canaries have figuratively speaking, pulled their fingers out winning three abnd drawing one of their last four games. This run of form see's them sit just 4 points off the play off places when it looked like mid table obscuring for another season. 24 year old Chilean midfield Marcelino Nunez has popped up with a couple of vital goals recently and will head into the game full of confidence.

In contrast, Brighton haven't won in 8 games now. Saturday evening's draw with Arsenal was comfortable the best performance they've turned in since their last victory, a 2-1 win against Bournemouth back in November. Given the poor run, I don't expect Fabian Hurzeler to make too many changes and it should be a relatively strong line up as a result..

Home advantage could be really important here. When it's bouncing, Carrow Road can be a real fortress and their recent run of form has given fans something to shout about. If Brighton don't start well it could be a long 90 minutes for the Seagulls and odds of just 8/15 on an away victory don't look particularly appetising to me..

Nottingham Forest v Luton Town

Forest are flying. 6 wins on the bounce now including wins against Manchester United, Aston Villa and Tottenham. The 2 late goals to come from behind and beat Villa at the City Ground was the pick of the bunch and a sure fire sign that they really are up for the fight. Currently in second place in the league and it makes you wonder if they'll rest some of the top plyers considering they play Liverpool at home just 72 hours after this.

Luton sacked Rob Edwards during the week and I think the whole country felt for him. The bond he formed with the players and fan base on that terrific run that saw them climb up into the Premier League for the first time was really quite something and the collapse that has since transpired has been a shock to many. They currently sit just 2 points above the drop zone and with important games against Preston, Oxford and Millwall over the next couple of weeks, you get the feeling a cup run is pretty low in their priorities list.

It's not the easiest game to call this one as Forest may simply play the kids in order to preserve all of the first team for the Liverpool game. But I don't see Luton going full strength and as a result I expect an easy home win.

Reading v Burnley

The Royals threw in two poor performances in December against Lincoln and Blackpool but have been really impressive apart from those games. The last time they tasted defeat before that was the 29th October away to Stockport. They've won 3 of their last 4 games and sit 6th in the League One table. Over performing perhaps but turning in solid displays almost every time they take the field.

Burnley lost to Wolves in the EFL cup way back in August and since then have lost just one single game. A 1-0 defeat at The Den against a very spirited Millwall outfit. The loss was back on the 3rd November and since then they've won 8 and drawn 5 conceeding just 3 goals in all 13 games. Only 9 goals conceeded in total all season. Really impressive.

I don't see there being many goals in this one. Burnley don't score a lot and conceed very very few and despite Reading 9 goals in 4 games, I don't see that goalscoring form continuing Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised to see them snatch something from the game but I'm going with the higher ranked team on this one.

Manchester City v Salford

Are City finally out of their slump? Saturday's 4-1 demolition, albeit of a very poor West Ham side, seems to have suggested they've turned the corner. Haaland scored two and Savinho turned in his best performance of the season too. Whilst we all expect some changes to the first team, the likely players to step into the team are Nunes, Doku, Grealish to mention a few. Not a bad set of replacements.

Salford are on a wonderful run in League Two with 9 wins in their last 11 games seeing them rise from 15th to 3rd in the table. They've won 6 on the spin scoring 12 without conceeding a single goal. An impressive run. If they're to keep that up at the Etihad on Saturday evening it's going to take something pretty miraculous.

Tip - City to win by 2+ goals, 3+ goals in the game, 8+ corners & 2+ cards - Evens

Pep was starting to look on shakey ground before the recent back to back wins, which really is a crazy thing to say. He's the best manager in the world in many people's opinions and in charge of one of the finest groups of players and he suddenly seemed unable to get a tune out of them. If they'd lost the last 2 aswell you'd be half tempted by the odds on Salford grabbing something here. But not now.

Tamworth v Tottenham Hotspur

Tamworth have had a very upa dn down season. The FA Cup run is undoubtedly the highlight whilst 8 wins, 6 draws and 10 defeats in the league sees them sitting in 16th position, comfortably clear of the releagation places but equally well outside of the play offs. They've won just once in their last 6 and scored just once in their last 3.

Spurs come into the game following a season's best showing against Liverpool on Wednesday. The Bergvall winner with 4 minutes to go capped off a wonderful first leg. The run of four league games without a win is a concern but there'll be a few players with one eye on a potentially confidence boosting performance in this one. It's difficult to tell if they'll go all out and substitute the top players once the game is safe or leave some of them on the bench but for confidence reasons I expect to see Heung-Min Son play. 6 games since he last scored and another mediocre performance in the League Cup Semi Final suggests he could do with bagging a couple on Saturday.

If you watched the FA Cup first round game between Tamworth and Huddersfield you'd understand why Spurs aren't 1/25 or longer in this game. It's a tight stadium and with the extremely dangerous long throw-in that their midfielder Tommy Tonks possesses, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they could cause the Premier League side some problems. However, an early goal will shut the crowd up and with Ange deserate to back up his "Always win a trophy in my second season" comment, there'll be very few drastic changes to the line up.

Arsenal v Manchester United

Despite the poor performance at home to Newcastle United on Tuesday in the League Cup Semi Final, Arsenal have been on a superb run of form. The draw away to Brighton last weekend and a 0-0 draw at home to Everton in mid December the only two stumbling blocks in an otherwise very impressive winter thus far. They're missing Saka, but dealing with it quite well for the most part. The need for a striker is glaringly obvious in games when they're struggling to break down opponents and most people are fully expecting to see 1 or 2 arrivals at the Emirates before the January window shuts..

United celebrated last Sunday's 2-2 draw at Anfield like a victory and in a way, it was. They were expected by most to leave Anfield with their tales firmly between their legs having taking 'one hell of a beating' to quote Jason Cundy. But quite the opposite. They put recent form behind them and were fully deserving of their point. Can they reproduce that form a week on though?. They'll need to be strong from defensive set pieces because Arsenal will certainly be targeting those.

A great game to finish off a fantastic weekend of FA Cup football. Both teams will want to win to help take confidence into their next league games. For Arsenal that's the North London derby against Spurs on Wednesday, whilst United enjoy an extra day of rest before a home game against struggling Southampton. I do wonder if these fixtures will be in the manager's minds and as such, United have a small advantage. There's defintely value if you fancy another good performance from the Red Devils.

All in All..

I've reveiwed just 8 games from a really exciting weekend to look forward to. If you're looking for 'Cupsets' I really like Bristol City as I've said above but elsewhere Leyton Orient are in real form right now and they host Derby County at the Matchroom Stadium on Saturday night. I expected this game to be televised and I'm really surprised it isn't. 2/1 on the home team represents great value.

As always, whether you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts and what you'll be going for.