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Little teams on their way to Wembley for a play-off final often call in the day before to do the tour and get in some sight seeing. It's a trick lower league bosses also use if they've been drawn to play at Old Trafford or The Emirates in a cup tie.

You get an hour or so to take your photos, get a feel of the place, get excited about the huge dressing rooms and giant stands. Then when you turn up on matchday you're only bothered about what happens on the pitch because the surroundings are no longer a surprise.

It was interesting to learn that Everton manager David Moyes did the same thing in reverse before his side started their FA Cup campaign at Scunthorpe. Leighton Baines said most of the players thought they were going shopping when the team bus turned into a retail park on the way to their hotel on Friday. Instead they were getting a look at Scunthorpe's tiny - but pretty smart - Glanford Park so they knew it would hold no horrors.

The upshot was a 5-1 win which might just mark the Toffees out as FA Cup value at 16.0. They'll have to get past a home draw with holders Chelsea, who cruised to a 7-0 romp over managerless Ipswich. But there are definite signs that Moyes' team is improving for the second half of the season, and 4.5 a top six Premier League finish looks a value bet for a side that's eight points behind Sunderland with a game in hand.

It was a good contrast to Newcastle, beaten 3-1 in the cramped surroundings of Stevenage's Broadhall Way ground. There were times when you could sense their players looking up thinking "I earn 30 grand a week, what am I doing here?" And it emphasised how management is a fine balance between getting players relaxed to perform, but wound up enough to do the hard work in the gritty side of the game.

That's one of the things Harry Redknapp is so good at, and Tottenham's second half performance after a sluggish start in the 3-0 win over Charlton suggests Spurs can adjust well to the David Beckham circus rolling into town. If anybody has the charisma to make sure he stays as the ringmaster then it's Redknapp, and two months of Beckham around the place will add a touch of glamour that will help the other players believe they belong in the Champions League, and in the top four place they occupy now and are 2.66 to hang on to.

Manchester City certainly didn't look like they much fancied their trip to Leicester, and were fortunate to get out with a 2-2 draw even though they were leading. And I saw West Brom who were simply awful in a 1-0 defeat at Reading and had the first serious signs that they are suffering from the pressure of a long losing run. You felt 3.55 for relegation looked a great bet for a side two points off the bottom and with 11 defeats in 14 games.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce had been bemoaning the Christmas fixture programme and the fitness demands it made on his players. Did he give them all an excuse for taking it easy at home to Notts County? If so they were punished as Paul Ince's team won 2-1 and earned a home plum home tie with either neighbours Leicester or Manchester City's millionaires. And certainly Ian Holloway did little to disguise the fact his priorities were elsewhere than a third round trip to Southampton, picking a reserve side that were comfortably beaten 2-0.

Other Premier League sides followed the Everton route and approached their ties properly. Mark Hughes, desperate to improve morale at Fulham, picked his strongest side and they rolled over Peterborough 6-2. And Aston Villa also went strong at Sheffield United, with Gerard Houllier's desperation for a result rewarded as new loan signing Kyle Walker scored against his old club in a 3-1 win. Neighbours Birmingham, with a Carling Cup semi-final trip to West Ham this evening, warmed up by winning 4-1 at Millwall.

Alex McLeish's side are 3.65 to win the first leg at West Ham tonight and that's decent value. Hammers struggled to put away Barnsley 2-0 and haven't dealt well this season with the pressure of performing in front of their own fans. Perhaps Avram Grant should book them on the Upton Park behind the scenes tour!

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