Swindon v Brighton: The Robins eyeing cup upset
Published:Swindon are an attractive 15/8 to become the sixth side to eliminate higher-level opposition in the opening round of the Capital One Cup following shock defeats for the likes of Wolves and Sheffield United at the weekend.
Ambitious Paolo Di Canio will have his sights set on consecutive promotions, undoubtedly, yet toppling Championship play-off hopefuls, Brighton, will do his ever-rising stock no harm.
The enigmatic Italian showed no signs of sacrificing cup games for the greater good of promotion last term when his charges dispatched the likes of Bristol City and Huddersfield before seeing off Premier League survivalists, Wigan – albeit the latter pair in the Capital One’s more prestigious cousin the FA Cup.
The Robins’ home form will also boost confidence going into this one.
They closed out their title-winning campaign last year with nine successive clean sheets at the County Ground and it is fast approaching a year since they last tasted defeat on their own patch.
Some solid business in the transfer market from Gus Poyet – acquiring Tomasz Kusczack and Wayne Bridge from the red and blue halves of Manchester respectively – will render this scalp right up there with the best, should Di Canio mastermind it.
These two regularly serve up tight contests – the last five have all been settled by a single goal, with three of the last four meetings ending 2-1 – which suggests the team most up for the battle will prevail here.
Swindon to prevail by a 2-1 scoreline is priced at 11/1 and the total number of goals in the game to be odd can be had at 9/10.
With a long trip to Hull awaiting the Seagulls on Saturday, the last thing Poyet will want is extra-time. He should take comfort in the fact, then, that there hasn’t been a draw in 90 minutes between these two in 12 meetings.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
