Bored into submission

Longshot – £5 on 19/4 at 188Bet

Newcastle United V Stoke City (Saturday 15.00) – Stoke to win

Alan Pardew’s Magpies are in the form of their lives and are, deservedly, level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Five consecutive wins have sent confidence sky-high on Tyneside and the team is relaxed, playing free-flowing football and in with a genuine chance of making the Champions League.

However, the last team Newcastle want to play when they are on a roll is Stoke. The Potters are masters in disrupting the momentum of their opposition and, as with all of Stoke’s games, the ball will be out of play for at least 55% of the 90 minutes.

Also, the Geordies’ will seldom have the opportunity to perform their ultra-effective counter-attacks as the visitors’ back-four will rarely venture over the halfway line.

After inflicting wave after wave of pure frustration onto their opponents, Stoke will strike with a trademark set-piece – that is the theory anyway.

If you do follow my advice and back Stoke, I would suggest that you shouldn’t watch the game. You will be disappointed if they don’t win and bored senseless if they do.

Peter Crouch: our centre forward is bigger than yours.

Bloomfields of goals

Anorak’s bet – £10 on 5/8 at 188Bet

Blackpool V Leicester City (Wednesday 20.00) – Over 2.5 goals

Ian Holloway and Nigel Pearson have two of the freest scoring and conceding sides in England.

Blackpool‘s 37 Championship fixtures this season have averaged 3.03 goals per game, while Leicester City have scored 51 and conceded 44 in their 36 games – an average of 2.64 goals per game.

The Tangerines will be going all-out to claim a win, needing three points to keep up the pressure on their play-off rivals.

Meanwhile, the Foxes will be happy for the game to be an open one, as they know that their comfortable mid-table position is unlikely to be compromised or significantly improved by the result.

Let him entertain you.

Rock-solid Reading

Banker – £50 on 13/19 at 188Bet

Reading V Portsmouth (Tuesday 20.00) – Reading to win

After my last two obscenely odds-on banker selections, I am somewhat pushing the boat out with this bad boy. Nevertheless, I am very confident.

Brian McDermott’s in-form Reading are top of the Championship form table, having won their last six games. The Royals have been rock-solid defensively and have only conceded once in their last nine and a half hours of play.

Following their second 10-point deduction in three seasons for entering administration last month, cash-strapped Portsmouth are low on confidence and sit second bottom. They have lost seven of their last ten games in all competitions.

Seven-goal Adam Le Fondre is one of 14 members in the current Reading squad to have contributed to the Royals' goal tally this year.