FA Cup: Tottenham the most fancied of replay winners

Paulinho picked an ideal time to score his first goal of the season in Tottenham's 4-2 third-round replay win over Burnley

Tottenham, Southampton and West Ham are judged to have a shot at FA Cup glory after third-round replay wins...

For all the talk of magic and giantkilling, the FA Cup is rife with elitism. Seventeen of the last 19 editions were won by one of Chelsea (six), Man City (one), Man United (three), Arsenal (five) or Liverpool (two).

Betfair's FA Cup winner market reflects this quintet's domination, with the Blues 5.69/2 favourites, the Citizens available at 6.25/1, the Red Devils priced at 6.411/2, the Gunners backable at 8.615/2 to retain and the Reds valued at 10.09/1. The 27 other dreamers left in the competition are all 15.014/1 or longer.

Portsmouth in 2007/08 and Wigan in 2012/13 both raged against the aristocracy, but paid a heavy price for their valour. Seven seasons later, Pompey are 17th in League Two, while the Latics are in the Championship relegation zone a mere two years on.

Their downfalls haven't stopped other brave clubs from striving for change, with the latest upstarts being Hull last term, who soared to the final and led 2-0 at Wembley, only for Arsenal to belatedly push them back down. They might yet be punished for their audacity with relegation.

In 2014/15, the revolutionaries assumed to have the best prospects of overthrowing the omnipotent five are Tottenham at 15.014/1, Southampton at 17.5n/a and West Ham at 21.020/1. Nobody else is given more than a 34.033/1 chance of taking the trophy.

Each of this trio required third-round replays this week to make it this far and were given a workout in those.

West Ham won an epic against bogey side Everton, who they haven't beaten in 16 attempts, on penalties having surrendered leads both at Goodison Park and the Boleyn Ground, with the demise of their optimistic top-four charge giving them an even more ravenous appetite for FA Cup success.

Tottenham found themselves 0-2 down after eight minutes at home to Burnley with no Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, so could easily have accepted their fate, but instead rallied for a 4-2 triumph. Southampton were forced to again show their defensive splendour to win 1-0 at Ipswich.

Though Southampton and West Ham have reached finals this century, none of them have lifted the FA Cup since Spurs did for the eighth time in 1991, with the Saints last prevailing in 1976 and the Irons not delivering since 1980.

However, the fact that they are all in the top seven of the Premier League is evidence of their quality, and the victories that each have achieved over current top-four teams this season proves that they are capable of defeating the serial winners.

None of them have to do that in the fourth round though. Tottenham host Leicester, Southampton entertain Crystal Palace and West Ham travel to Bristol City.