Our tipster fancies Brentford to claim a spot in the FA Cup Fifth Round.
Monday night sees the final game of the FA Cup Fourth Round as Premier League side Brentford go to National League North outfit Macclesfield. The hosts have already knocked out top-flight opposition once this season after eliminating holders Crystal Palace last month.
Can John Rooney’s side plot another shock? PP tipster Feargal Brennan delivers his take…
Result at 30 mins: Draw
Brentford to win & Both teams to score: Yes
Keane Lewis-Potter to score
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Macclesfield v Brentford
When: Monday, February 16th, 7:30pm
Where: Leasing.com Stadium, Macclesfield.
TV: TNT Sports 1/Discovery+
Result at 30 mins: Draw
Macclesfield’s 2-1 win over Palace had everything you could want from a cup upset with the holders dethroned in ruthless fashion, plus a pitch invasion, as John and big brother Wayne shared an emotional moment at full time.
Despite Macc fighting for promotion to the National League, this is once-in-a-lifetime stuff, and they will throw everything at trying to shock Brentford on Monday. That means the onus will firmly be on Keith Andrews’ visitors to break them down.
The Palace win was based on the old cup shock playbook of making life tricky for the big boys and not conceding early. Macc opened the scoring in the 43rd minute and Palace did not get their eventual consolation goal until after 90.
They’ve won three on the run at home in the league since beating Palace so confidence is high on containing Brentford early doors. Andrews’ team drew 1-1 with Arsenal in midweek, but they left it late, and they’ve not scored in the first 30 minutes of their last five league games.
Brentford to win & Both teams to score: Yes
If Macc keep themselves in the game early on, that’ll ripple into the crowd, and push them on to take more chances. They were pretty direct against Palace, scoring two from just four efforts on target, and I think they can nick a goal in front of a pumped up home support.
Whether they go in front, or drag themselves back into the game at some point, it’ll be a night to test the grit of Andrews and his players. However, so far this season, they have passed several of those tests.
They won 1-0 at Aston Villa at the start of February, despite playing 45 minutes with ten men, scored an 85th minute winner at Newcastle in the following game, and then stopped Arsenal’s winning run at four games.
Macc will fancy themselves for a goal, particularly with Brentford only keeping one clean sheet in the last five, but when it comes to the crunch I think the wily Andrews will get over the line.
Keane Lewis-Potter to score
As the game inevitably opens up a bit late on, Brentford will be looking for their top-flight class to shine. Andrews is expected to make rotations from the Arsenal win, but Keane Lewis-Potter should remain in place.
The versatile former Hull man grabbed the all-important equaliser against the Gunners and he scored in the previous round win over Sheffield Wednesday. He’s comfortable across various positions and that’ll be valuable on the night.
Five goals so far this season is already his best campaign numbers as a Brentford player and he could be the difference maker on Monday.
Result at 30 mins: Draw
Brentford to win & Both teams to score: Yes
Keane Lewis-Potter to score
A Bet Builder with these bets pays at approximately 10/1 with Paddy Power. TAP OR CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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