Football Bet of the Day: 8/1 Price Boost from the City Ground

The FA Cup fifth round draws to a close on Monday (19:30, ITV4) as Nottingham Forest welcome Premier League rivals Ipswich Town to the City Ground. The hosts needed penalties to get past League 1 side Exeter City in the previous round but they have had a habit of resting their first-team stars because of their Champions League pursuit in the league.

Ipswich hammered Coventry City in the fourth round and the FA Cup gives them a welcome escape from their top-flight troubles. The Tractor Boys have lost six of their last eight matches in the league as their relegation worries continue to grow. It's from this cup tie that my football bet of the day for Monday comes, and I've opted for an attractive price boost that pays at 8/1.

Nottingham Forest vs Ipswich Odds

While Ipswich have been struggling at the bottom end of the table, Forest have recently been having issues at the top. The Tricky Trees have lost three of their past five outings in the Premier League and so Nuno Espirito Santo is set to rotate his squad for this cup match as a crunch clash with Manchester City lies in store on Saturday.

The fringe stars have been getting the job done in the FA Cup so far, despite the Exeter game being more nervy than expected. Nuno is likely going to trust the same group to handle themselves against Ipswich, whose players are extremely low on confidence right now.

Exeter proved to be tough opponents, and Ipswich will be tougher considering they are in the same division as Forest. The Tractor Boys could feature more of their star players in a bid to book their place in the quarter-finals and bring some much-needed positivity to the squad.

Anyway, enough about that, let's get into this price boost. It starts with both teams to score, which was a winning selection for the hosts in the fourth round, as well as two of their last three encounters in the league.

The likes of top scorer Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi may be named on the bench here with a view to rest them for Man City, but they may still have a role to play if the starting players struggle to get the job done.

Taiwo Awoniyi will likely lead the line and once upon a time he was Forest's leading front man. Injuries and the rise of Wood have seen him demoted to understudy, so the bulk of his minutes have been coming in the cup competitions.

The Nigerian did score against Exeter in the last round, and his physical presence will cause plenty of problems for an Ipswich defence that has shipped 23 goals in their past eight matches.

Football Odds

BTTS has also struck in Ipswich's previous six games across all competitions. While Wood has been prolific for Forest with 18 goals in the Premier League, Liam Delap has been having a respectable campaign for the visitors with 10 goals of his own.

He carries the Tractor Boys' biggest goal threat so we are likely to see him from the off in Nottingham, and I think he could play a huge role in this part of the selection coming in.

The next leg is Morgan Gibbs-White to score or assist. The creative midfielder is a key figure for Forest and his importance could see him kept in the XI for this match. As such, his chances of contributing to a goal seems favourable to me.

Gibbs-White has provided five goals and the same number of assists in the Premier League this campaign, and he has the quality to torment an Ipswich defence that have been looking frail for weeks. The insurance of having him to score or assist in this game feels like it is too good to ignore.

The price boost is completed by Ipswich's Sam Morsy to be carded. The midfielder is yet to feature in the FA Cup this term, but given the calibre of Monday's opponents, McKenna may feel that the Egyptian's grit in the middle of the park will be needed.

However, this will bring some challenges as Morsy is not the quickest of midfielders and Forest, as we know, like to break quickly. I think Morsy will be drawn into a number of fouls in this match, which should result in a yellow card.

He has been booked eight times already in the Premier League and his latest came last time out in the 3-2 defeat at Manchester United. Morsy has committed 37 fouls in the top flight so far, which means he is averaging 1.7 per game.

Offers

Double Delight & Hat-trick Heaven: Get double or treble the odds if your winning First Goalscorer bet scores a 2nd and 3rd

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 100% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down

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