Smart Acca Picks: FA Cup Providing Good Value

Manchester City and Chelsea go head to head for the second time this week on Sunday, with the Cityzens looking to add to their 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.

Pep Guardiola’s men are now unbeaten in their last four matches since their shock 2-1 loss to Brentford, having gone on to beat Liverpool 3-2 and Leeds United 3-1, before drawing 1-1 with Everton and winning against Graham Potter’s men on Thursday night thanks to a Riyad Mahrez strike.

Chelsea’s form is poor heading into this match, as they have won just one of their last five matches, with that victory coming at home to Bournemouth via a 2-0 scoreline, Before their victory over the Cherries, Chelsea had been beaten 2-0 and 1-0 by City in the League Cup and Newcastle in the Premier League. Since then, they have been held to a 1-1 draw away at Nottingham Forest.

Aston Villa hosts League Two outfit Stevenage at Villa Park on Sunday, with Unai Emery looking to maintain his good start as Villa manager.

So far under the Spaniard, the Villains have managed 3-1, 2-1 and 2-0 victories in the Premier League over Manchester United, Brighton and Tottenham before drawing 1-1 at home to Wolves last time out. Villa’s other two matches under the Spaniard have seen them lose 4-2 in the League Cup to United at Old Trafford, as well as suffering a 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool.

Stevenage are currently second in League Two and enters this match off the back of 1-0 and 3-1 wins against Gillingham and Crawley Town. Prior to these results though, the Boro could only draw 0-0 with Leyton Orient and Mansfield Town on either side of a 3-0 away loss to Portsmouth in the EFL Trophy.

Derby County against Barnsley sees an all-League One tie take place on Sunday.

In terms of league context, Derby are fourth, one point ahead of their opponents, although the Tykes do have a game in hand.

The Rams won the last league meeting between these two in August via a 2-1 scoreline at Pride Park and enter this fixture in good form, as since their 1-1 away draw at Burton Albion, Paul Warne’s side have beaten Forest Green 4-0 and drawn 0-0 with Bolton before beating Cambridge 1-0 and Accrington 4-0.

Barnsley were thrashed 3-0 at Oakwell by Bolton last time out after beating Fleetwood 2-1 and drawing 1-1 with Accrington Stanley. Michael Duff’s men have also managed 2-0 and 2-1 victories over Burton and Peterborough in their last five outings.

Cardiff City and Leeds United face off in an intriguing battle between 20th in the Championship and 14th in the Premier League.

The Bluebirds were beaten 1-0 by Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park last time out, ending a sequence of four draws in a row, following 0-0 stalemates with Coventry and QPR, before drawing 1-1 and 2-2 with Blackpool and Stoke City.

Leeds’ results have picked up a little, as following 1-0, 4-3 and 3-1 losses to Wolves, Tottenham and Manchester City, the Whites have managed 0-0 and 2-2 draws with Newcastle United and West Ham United in their last two outings.

The final game on this list sees Hartlepool and Stoke City go head-to-head at Victoria Park.

League Two outfit, Hartlepool, have had some inconsistent form of late, having drawn 3-3 at home to Harrogate, after 2-1 and 5-0 losses to Mansfield Town and Stockport County on either side of 2-0 and 2-1 victories against Crawley Town and Rochdale.

Stoke have lost both of their last two matches by 1-0 scorelines to Preston North End and Burnley. Alex Neil’s men had drawn 2-2 with both Rotherham United and Cardiff City on either side of a 2-1 away win at Bristol City prior to their recent losses.

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