Alex69

HELLO, good morning and welcome to my blog. I trust you all had an exciting weekend. After a ‘just about even’ Saturday (excellent trade on the Preston/Burnley game, moderate trade on the England rugby match and, quite frankly, a snooze-fest on the Millwall/Forest fixture) it’s time to launch ourselves headfirst back into the champagne lifestyle we all love.

Let's take a look at tonight's Premier League fixture - Stoke (pushing for a Europa League spot) v West Brom (relegation candidates).

Poor old West Brom started the season like the Road Runner on steroids, but since the turn of 2011 they’ve lost five matches*, one manager and a lorry-load of momentum. Stoke, on the other hand, have managed to claw their way up the Premier League table with the help of the belligerent, battering-ram brand of football we’ve come to expect from Tony Pulis’ teams.

While Stoke are no oil painting as a side (if anything, an early Hieronymous Bosch), there’s a certain aesthetic beauty in backing them at home as, to cut a long story short, it means more champers come ten o’clock. They may not roar into an early lead, but mark my words they will win, come Hell or High Throw. Laying to back is probably the best route for a risk-free return as their aerial bombardment will eventually see the Baggies staring into the Britannia Ground’s floodlights like amateur astronomists once too often. If you fancy some slightly riskier entertainment, back draw half-time, Stoke full-time.

(*The Baggies’ quintet of reversals this year include an embarrassing 1-0 FA Cup defeat at the hands of Championship no-hopers Reading)

Good luck and happy punting!

Please note: feel free to trade out at any point in-running, depending as ever on the size of your church halls and the liquidity of your betting bank.

Remember: You don’t look at the mantelpiece when you’re stoking the fire.