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For so much of the season, promotion to the Premier League looked like a combined Southampton and West Ham private members club. Then Reading came along with a run that, in all honesty, would have been pretty unstoppable regardless of what happened at St Mary's and Upton Park. Yet there must be an element of head scratching going on down the East End of London as to how the Hammers have ended up in the play-offs and haven't gone up automatically. Sam Allardyce's side were in the top two pretty much constantly from early October until mid-March, they have lost only eight games all season and they have what looks, to me at least, the strongest set of players in the division by some distance. Only 11 home wins may have been a contributory factor, and certainly a run of seven games...

[u]Portsmouth v Birmingham, KO: Tuesday 19:45[/u] Surely it can only be Birmingham's form before the weekend that is allowing us to back them at greater than even-money in this one? The Blues have been through a sticky patch that saw them go four without a win in the league, but they bounced back to ease past Middlesbrough on Saturday. They also know how to beat struggling teams, having won seven of their previous nine games against teams in the bottom six. And they don't come much more 'struggling' than Pompey: in administration, eight points adrift of safety and hurtling towards the gaping trap door that leads to League One. Manager Michael Appleton has seen four players loaned out in the last three weeks, and so it's little surprise that Portsmouth have not won in nine league...

[u]Blackpool v Ipswich[/u] A year ago Blackpool were confounding the doubters in the Premier League. Of course, it didn't last and down they came, but Ian Holloway's side have made a decent start to life back in The Championship and they should be able to account for an Ipswich outfit which has been woeful defensively so far. The Seasiders are the only team to have taken a point off leaders Brighton so far, and they followed that with a hard-earned point at Crystal Palace. After two tough away trips they will be glad to be home and hosting opponents who have been shipping goals for fun. Ipswich have not kept a clean sheet since the opening day and conceded 12 in two games against Southampton and Peterborough. A win over Leeds before the international break will have helped but they...