Well last night wasnt as good as planned though we ended up very slightly ahead. I was fairly confident of the Liverpool win though at times they had me worried. I had Norwich posted up quite late so hopefully most of you missed that and didn't lose anything. I had narrowed down my selection to that of either Norwich or Peterborough but felt that Norwich had slightly more to offer. Of course you will remember that Peterborough burnt us badly last weekend so i wasn't too keen to jump on them again... silly mistake, Norwich practically gave the game to Bury and Peterborough decided to score 8 goals!!!
As i find myself saying quite a lot these days, onwards and upwards. I have a website under construction at the moment so hopefully everything will be moved over there at some stage in the near future. Anyone with some constructive suggestions, please feel free to drop me an email.
Onto tonight's action, its quite tricky out there so tread with caution, small stakes for me and il keep the powder dry until the weekend.

Newcastle V Stoke

Newcastle are in turmoil at the moment. No manager, coming into this one on the back of a 6 - 0 drubbing at Old Trafford last week. No captain after Alan Smith was dismissed in that game.
All in all that means, central midfielders Alan Smith and Nicky Butt are suspended, while Habib Beye, Abdoulaye Faye, Geremi and Obafemi Martins are away on African Nations Cup duty.
Confidence must be at an all time low at the moment with fans not knowing who's coming or going. They have no form going and have lost 4 in a row in the premiership. They have failed to win in 6 games in all competitions and have only scored 1 goal in their last 5 games. Yet the bookies still have them priced up as 1.75 favourites!!!

Stoke have a reputation as a tough team to beat. At the weekend they went to fortress Ipswich and were unlucky to only come away with a point. They are a no nonsense team that like to play it direct and i feel that they will be well up for the challenge at St James tonight. Their record reads 5-7-2 away from home with 24 goals scored and 18 conceded.
Stoke are waiting on Andy Wilkinson and Carl Dickenson to prove their fitness in time for this game.

Verdict

How anyone could consider backing Newcastle at these odds is beyond me. There is a division between them but the way Newcastle are playing, half the championship teams would beat them. Lets not forget Newcastle were hammered 5 - 1 last year at this stage by Birmingham who were in the championship then. Due to Stoke's tendency to draw away games I'm a little cautious about taking them to win. The odds that appeal to me are them to qualify at just over 3's
The winner of this game gets the chance to play Arsenal next, something that i think Stoke should be more excited about that Newcastle.

PICK

Newcastle V Stoke - Stoke to qualify ( 3.75 @ boylesports) 3 points