All the odds ahead of Rangers’ trip to Milton Keynes

It’s time for football fans to ignore the self-styled ‘drama’ of the ‘world’s most exciting league’ and forget about the Champions League’s contrived fixtures, because FA Cup third round weekend is upon us – still the most compelling couple of days in English football.

Once again, the cup draw has served up some enthralling ties and potential upsets, although Rangers will want to avoid being an early giant-killing victim when they visit MK Dons.

However, bookies consider there not to be too much in this one, with Stan James rightly making Neil Warnock’s team their 7/5 favourites as Blue Square offer the hosts at 11/5.

Fourth in the table, MK Dons have kept more clean sheets (10) than any other League One side, a record that explains their 4/7 odds (bet365) to win when handed a one-goal start.

Punters should also note that the hosts have scored first on 14 occasions this term, winning 11 and drawing 3, hence William Hill post 7/10 about both sides scoring.

It certainly promises to be tight and Victor Chandler’s 11/10 for the opening half to finish level has attracted heavy support.

In fact, Partybets’ 9/2 for both halves to end with honours even has captured the attention of a sizeable number of punters, as has the 11/2 price offered by Skybet against it ending 1-1 at 90 minutes.

In other markets, Paddy Power rate the chance of the tie producing between 2-3 goals to be an even money shot and Boylesports consider Rangers to have a 3/1 chance of winning the tie by a single goal.

Given MK Dons’ home league record (one defeat in 12 matches), there’s little chance of this being a walkover for the Londoners, hence the appeal of Ladbrokes’ 23/10 chalked against the draw.

However, the Premier League team should have too much for a team two divisions below them and Betfred’s 8/1 for Rangers to head home as 2-1 winners looks one of the day’s most attractive wagers.

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