Tuesday 30th October

Back Sunderland (8/11, Paddy Power) to beat Middlesbrough

Martin O’Neill takes the cup competitions seriously; he knows the impact and momentum a good cup run can bring to his side.  O’Neill won this cup earlier in his career when in charge of Leicester City and will field a strong side tomorrow in order to progress to the next round.  If brutally honest his Sunderland side will struggle to compete for a place in Europe this season and are well safe from being relegated, this means the cup competitions offer Sunderland and O’Neill a real chance of silverware and a successful season.  Sunderland have looked rock solid so far this campaign losing only 1 game in the league.  Their main problem this season is a lack of goals, having scored only 6, with only one goal scorer in their side, Steven Fletcher.  Fletcher has scored all 5 of Sunderland goals in the league with the other being an own goal.  Not scoring goals and only having Fletcher as their only goal scorer isn’t Sunderland’s only problem, drawing too many games is most defiantly another to add to the list.  Sunderland have drawn 6 of their 8 league games, winning 1 and losing the other.  On 3 occasions the Black Cats have drawn from winning positions, against Swansea, Liverpool and West Ham.  Away from the league Sunderland have found winning games slightly easier, they won their first round tie in the Capital Cup 2-0 at home to Morecambe, with young Irish striker McClean scoring both goals and won comfortably away at MK Dons 2-0 with both goals being scored after going down to 10 men due to Lee Cattermole’s sending off.  Expect Sunderland to continue playing a strong side in this competition and continue their winning form.

Middlesbrough are in fine form of late, winning their last 4 matches in the Championship against tough opposition like Brighton, Hull and Bolton.  Middlesbrough are sitting comfortably in 3rd position in the league with 25 points from 13 fixtures, winning 8, drawing 1 and losing 4, scoring 21 goals and conceding 18 in the process.  Middlesbrough have a very respectable squad for a championship side with numerous strikers to choose from upfront, meaning lots of completion for a starting berth which many managers would love to have.  Tony Mowbray’s attackers are in fine form this season with young Lukas Jutkiwicz having scored 4 in 6 and McDonald scoring 3 in his last 4 along with Dutchman Emnes scoring 2 in his last 4 matches.  These 2 sides were hard to separate when they met in the league cup last season with Sunderland forcing a replay at home before winning away in extra time.

Expect this match to be just as tight as last season FA Cup encounters, but like last year expect Sunderland to progress to the next round, this time round in 90 minutes.

Back Southampton DNB  (11/10 SkyBet) to beat Leeds (draw = stakes returned)

Southampton are really struggling in their return to the Premiership; since gaining their first league win of the season to Aston Villa over a month ago they haven’t been able to buy a win, losing 3 and drawing the other in their last 4 matches.  Nigel Adkins will be pleased to turn his attention away from the Premiership to the Capital One Cup this week and try and get his side back to winning ways.  As previously stated earlier in this competition, teams who struggle in their domestic leagues often see the cup as a way to reignite their teams against lower opposition and improve confidence in their side.  Tomorrow will be no different, I expect Southampton to play a strong side and go all out for the win.

Leeds are up and down this season with 5 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses.  As usual Leeds aren’t having any problem finding the net in the Championship with 20 goals to their name but have conceded just as many, 19.  Goals have dried up in recent weeks, scoring only 2 goals in their last 3 matches and not winning any of them, losing 1-0 at home on Saturday to a poor Birmingham side.  This Leeds side is very average and very reliant on their 2 star players, Diouf and Becchio.  Neil Warnock is taking the cup seriously as shown in the last round when beating a 2nd string Everton side 2-1, which helped in making the odds on a Southampton win tomorrow night very juicy.

Leeds and Southampton are both teams who like to get forward and score goals.  At first glance this match screams over 2.5 goals.  However, with Southampton scoring plenty and conceding more, Nigel Adkins will need to look carefully at his tactics and game plan in the upcoming weeks as clearly his current one isn’t working.  This could easily be a high scoring game and if it is I expect the Saints to outscore Leeds, either way I don’t see Southampton losing and for that reason alone tomorrow night the selection is Southampton Draw no Bet.