Nottingham Forest top bet365's FA Cup liabilities

The FA Cup reaches the fifth round this week with many of the competition's early favourites already eliminated.

Liverpool suffered a shock exit at the hands of Plymouth Argyle, while Chelsea lost to Premier League Brighton. Arsenal had already fallen to out-of-form Manchester United, potentially leaving Manchester City with a clear path to the final.

Of course, City have struggled all season and their fortunes don't look like turning around any time soon, though they shouldn't have too many problems getting past giant-killing Plymouth.

The likes of Aston Villa and Crystal Palace face Championship opposition, while Nottingham Forest host struggling Ipswich on Monday night, and it's the Tricky Trees who've been piling up the liabilities for bet365.

bet365's Sports and Trading expert Steve Freeth said: "We took some lumpy bets on Nottingham Forest at 20/1, 40/1 and 50/1 earlier in the season, and with a fairly straightforward-looking tie on paper, the current 14/1 may well be much shorter after Monday's clash.

"Since the fifth round draw, Forest have been our second-best-backed team. It's one trophy that eluded Brian Clough during his tenure at the City Ground with the club not lifting the FA Cup since 1959, and making only one final since. That 1991 defeat to Tottenham was all about the Gazza injury, but the way Nuno has got Forest playing this season, you wouldn’t write off 2025 being all about Nottingham Forest.

"Although the Forest top our liabilities, it's still Manchester City who've garnered the most bets, with most than 40% of bets placed on Pep Guardiola's side since the FA Cup fifth round draw pitted them against Plymouth."

Despite their struggles both domestically and abroad this term, Manchester City are still favourites for the competition. While Guardiola has a superb record in the domestic cups since taking the helm at the Etihad, much of his success has come in the EFL Cup, which he won four times in a row, but his FA Cup record isn't too shabby, either.

His record as City manager in the FA Cup reads: WWDWWLWWLWWWWWWWWWWLWWWWLWWWWLWWWWWWWWWWWLWW

37 wins, one draw and six losses, and that final L was a huge shock in their defeat to Manchester United in last year's final, so it's hard to rule out City going deep in the competition once more, and at a bigger price than we're used to seeing.

Best-backed teams in the FA Cup

Bets placed since FA Cup fifth round draw:

Liam Williams

• • 
  •