Stoke look to bounce back at Burnley after tamest of cup exits

Rather like me, Stoke head into the midweek programme looking to shake off a bit of a hangover from the weekend. I got stung by a foolish estimation that Manchester United would continue to score goals by the hatful at Wolves as well as surprises at West Ham and Wigan while Tony Pulis’ side just got a bit of a going over by Chelsea, who are now just one match away from yet another cup final.

The Londoners always seemed likely to qualify but the ease with which they did so was still a surprise. The visitors had one good chance cleared of the line by Jon Obi Mikel when the midfielder had been very fortunate to belatedly take up the position he did for a set piece, but really they had terribly little bite about them.

To go to a place like Stamford Bridge with something like Rory Delap’s long throws in your armoury is a definite bonus but to rely on that one form of attack almost exclusively is asking a lot and once it became clear that Alex and John Terry were going to attack balls into the area with a little more decisiveness than the Chelsea back four has really been known for this season, a home victory looked fairly certain.

To be honest, though, Stoke looked like they had travelled expecting to be beaten and that’s actually part of the reason I would sort of fancy them to bounce back against Burnley in the midweek programme. Despite having such a poor record in the cup, it seems that securing their top flight status remains the priority and it seems certain that they’ll be  little more gung ho this time out.

Their hosts have continued to haemorrhage points away from home, something Owen Coyle seemed to accept on the basis that they would be o formidable at Turf Moor. Sadly, though, they have now  won just one game – against West Ham – at home since the defeat of Hull at the end of October and though there may be a growing sense of urgency ahead of Stoke’s arrival, it will most likely be accompanied by diminishing levels of confidence which new boss Brian Laws badly needs to tackle.

The European games, meanwhile, are tough enough to call but I rather fancy Lyon to at least keep it tight at the Bernabeu. It’s not a situation they’ll be used to, defending a one goal lead against such an array of quality, but they’re a decent side and if they can hold out until half-time then the pressure will start to mount on the Spaniards. In any case, the French are capable of nicking a goal and if they do that the hosts will be in a major spot of bother.

Finally, I’m going to go for Porto to get a draw or better at the Emirates. I made a bit of a bags of the first leg of this game, to be honest. I backed Arsenal in a handicap at zero which meant I would get my money back if they drew but almost the instant I did it I realised that I essentially didn’t think they would win and that a draw was about as good as it was going to get for them. I therefore should have backed the Portuguese on the basis that if anyone was going to actually win, it would probably be them and if nobody did, then I’d still get my stake back.

As it turned out, of course, the hosts had to be helped to their victory by some, er, questionable refereeing but then that’s always a risk in Europe where political appointments and hostile home crowds have a way of tipping things in favour of the locals.

This time, the Londoners might just benefit from the same thing, they could certainly do with a bit of a dig out given that they are without Cesc Fabregas, their most reliable source of big goals in the absence of Robin van Persie.

Like Lyon, Porto are a decent side, going well at home who arrive with something to defence which is not a hugely promising scenario for the Londoners.

Bet

€12.50 treble on Stoke City (0) to win at Burnley, Porto (+0.5/1) to win at Arsenal and Lyon (+1.5) to win at Real Madrid @ 8.15.

Categories: Soccer