FA Cup: Is it the ideal time to back West Ham for glory?

West Ham are in trouble for playing Diafra Sakho at Bristol City

West Ham's FA Cup winner odds have doubled as FIFA threaten to boot them out for fielding Diafra Sakho...

West Ham fans felt a sense of "this might be our year" about the FA Cup before it started, with a solid Premier League points tally allowing them to prioritise it. The thrilling elimination of bogey club Everton and a fortuitous late victory in Bristol City made their opportunity even more glaring.

This wasn't just a case of supporters getting ahead of themselves either - the early exits of Chelsea, Man City, Southampton and Tottenham saw the punting public buy into their challenge too, accepting them as fourth favourites.

However, West Ham's journey wasn't supposed to include sustained threats of being kicked out of the competition. They have been unrelenting since Diafra Sakho - who was ruled out of the African Cup of Nations campaign with a back injury - came off the bench to net the winner at Bristol City.

The Senegalese authorities were unimpressed having seen him pull out of their squad 18 days earlier. The Lions of Teranga's participation ended in the group stage with a defeat to Algeria two days after Sakho's decisive 33-minute cameo at Ashton Gate.

West Ham's defence was that the striker was unable to fly so wouldn't have been able to make it to the tournament in Equatorial Guinea, and that they sent him to Bristol by limousine for the fourth-round tie.

It initially seemed like Senegal were lashing out and the drama would die down, but West Ham's legal team advised leaving him out of their squad to face Liverpool last Saturday - though Senegal were already out by then - and a FIFA investigation into the matter has since been confirmed.

The odds shift shows that punters are taking the possibility seriously, with the Irons blasting all the way out from 8.6 to 17.016/1.

Given that their on-pitch circumstances haven't changed in the intervening period, and West Ham will surely have the right to appeal even if FIFA do react in the sternest manner, this could be a great trading opportunity.

If the east Londoners retain their place, they should return to single digits, and 8.6 implies around twice the likelihood of lifting the trophy that 17.0 does.

If FIFA throw up the green light, they will be visiting West Brom on February 14.