Football tips: Our 3/1 FA Cup double for Thursday's matches

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton meet in Thursday’s early kick-off in the FA Cup fifth round – a tournament both have done well in recently. Wolves have had a pretty miserable season, with the horrific injury to star man Raul Jimenez leading to a rocky spell of form in the Premier League.

Nuno Espirito Santo has come under pressure, but his team have improved in recent games with a home win against Arsenal and a hard-fought draw against Leicester last weekend. They’ll be looking forward to a break from the Premier League with Thursdays home FA Cup tie to build on those recent encouraging signs.

The New Year was looking bright for Southampton when manager Ralph Hasenhuttl was on his knees in delight after beating Liverpool 1-0. Since then, however, things have gone from bad to worse.

5.30pm: Wolves v Southampton – BT Sport 1

The wheels have well and truly fallen off in the Premier League, with Saints losing their last five games including that 9-0 defeat away to Manchester United, and a 3-2 loss to Newcastle last time out.

They have listed two goalkeepers on the bench in recent matches just to make up the numbers so horrific is their injury list. Typically, the two sides are due to meet in the Premier League at the weekend too, and Southampton will not want to risk further squad selection problems in Thursday’s fixture.

The sides last met at Molineux in the Premier League back in November in a 1-1 draw, and with Southampton’s injury troubles and Wolves looking to keep recent momentum going, I’d expect them to name a strong side and book their place in an FA Cup Quarter Final for the second time in three seasons. The Bet is Wolves To Win.

MORE TIPS: The 3 best bets as Wolves face Southampton on Thursday

Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel has made a strong impact at Chelsea and will be looking to maintain his positive start when they travel to Barnsley in Thursday’s other FA Cup tie. The home side are unbeaten in three Championship games and sit nine points off the play-offs with a game in hand.

History is on their side in this one, as they have won both of their previous meetings with the Blues in this competition (4-0 in 1989 and 1-0 in the 2008 Quarter-Final). Chelsea have three wins and a draw since Thomas Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard at the end of January. He has an incredible squad and is still learning about his players, but regardless of the team he selects, it’s going to be a strong one and players know they need to impress their new boss.

8pm: Barnsley v Chelsea – BBC 1

They now sit fifth in the Premier League and will see this as their main chance of silverware. Barnsley have a huge game in the Championship at the weekend away to Brentford and are bound to have one eye on that fixture.

Chelsea were beaten finalists last season and will see this as a great opportunity to get to yet another Quarter-Final. Their confidence is sky-high and I expect them to have way too much for Barnsley at an empty Oakwell. The Bet is Chelsea Halftime / Fulltime.