Sunday Portfolio - 19th Febuary

3 pts Stoke, FA Cup Fifth Round (21/20 Paddy Power)

Stoke have been left with a mountain to climb in the Europa League after a 1-0 defeat at home against Valencia but they can enhance their trophy prospects with a win at Crawley Town to go through to the Quarter finals of the FA Cup.

The first non-league club to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup in almost 20 years when they played at Old Trafford last season, Crawley have done nothing but progress since and they now currently sit fifth in League Two, one point behind leaders Southend with two games in hand and have already left their mark on this completion by beating Bristol and Hull City.

Neither will present the same test that Stoke provide, and even though they’re on a pretty dreadful run of form it should be remembered that the last game they won in any completion was a similar assignment at Derby.

They may have lost 5 of their last 6 but they’ve hardly been porus – conceding one goal or fewer in six of their last nine away games – while Sunderland and Manchester United were very tough games for different reasons.

Having won five of their last six games at home in all competitions, there’s no reason that Crawley shouldn’t be very hard to beat as well, but Pulis’s side have plenty of strength in depth – Asmir Begovic is a solid goalkeeping option, while he can call upon Cameron Jerome and Kenwyne Jones- and can get back to winning ways here.

1 pt Treble, Liverpool, Stoke, Tottenham (3.41 Ladbrokes)

All 3 Premiership teams have what could be described as potentially tricky FA Cup ties but all 3 will have their eyes set on going close to winning the competition and odds of about 3/1 for the treble are certainly tempting.

Harry Redknapp’s Spurs have been thoroughly rejuvenated this season and gave one of their best Premier League performances for 2 or three years when beating up Newcastle 5-0, with Emmanuel Adebayor giving one of his best performances since joining the club.

Their defensive organization is also a major strongpoint, with two clean sheet wins on the way to making it here and wins to nil against Aston Villa, Bolton, Everton, Norwich and Sunderland in the Premier League for example.

They’ll probably need to be on their mettle to beat Stevenage, who have lost just one of their last 21 games, and the consistent promotion chasers (they come off the back of two promotions) will be fired up but Tottenham have plenty of nerve, guile and strength in depth (the likes of Kranjar, Saha, Nelsen and Sandro could start) which should see them through.

Liverpool have a potentially tricky tie with Brighton but are unbeaten at home in all competitions this season (won six, drawn nine) and should have enough to come through. Kenny Daglish’s enterprise has been rewarded in the Carling Cup with a run to the final and he can call upon the much maligned but sadly talented Luiz Saurez, Charlie Adam, Steven Gerrard, and Craig Bellamy, which should give the reds enough firepower to make it through to the quarter finals.

1 pt Draw/AC Milan, Serie A, (7/2 general)

AC Milan are one of two clubs realistically fighting for the Scudetto this season and the charge should be kept up with victory at Cesna but the 4/7 on them winning doesn’t look like great value.

It’s been close to a season defining week for Massimo Allegri’s side after what could only be described as a poor patch, with a come from behind 2-1 win at Udinese followed by a 4-0 romp against a dreadful Arsenal  at the San Siro in midweek that all but puts them into the quarter finals of the Champions League.

They should have more than enough to get past Cesna, who are relegation threatened having taken one point from the last 12, but an interesting statistic to note is that AC Milan have drawn 6 away at half time, while Cesna have drawn at the break, before going onto win just 2 of those games, which makes the 7/2 on the double rest very interesting.

2 pts Barcelona to win to Nil, La Liga (11/10 Ladbrokes)

It’s common belief that Barcelona seem to have lost the title race – even a number of the players and coach have accepted that Madrid’s galatcios seem to be too far infront to give up the points needed for a turnaround but they’ve still got 8 points in hand of Valencia, and should be well upto beating Unai Emery’s side once again to make it 30 unbeaten at home in La Liga.

Pep Guardiola’s side a little on the road this season, having been held against Villarreal, Espanyol and Valencia in recent weeks, along with a 3-2 defeat at Osasuna, but they were right back to their old self when impressively winning 3-1 at Leverkusen, and their home form remains probably the hardest to best in Europe.

Valencia – determined and classy in disproving the myth that good footballing teams could not win in a cold night at Stoke during midweek – tradionally have their struggles on the road, with only 4 wins away from the Mestalla this season, so a record of no wins in 11 against the Catalans isn’t likely to bettered at the Camp Nou.

Quotes of ¼ reflect how obvious many think the win will be, so getting the value out of the game is the tricky task. Barcelona have an outstanding double result record at home, with the champions ahead in 18 of their last 19 wins. A quick look through recent fixtures indicates that might not be the safest option, with Barcelona having been either held or behind in three of the last 5 meetings between the two.

What’s interesting to note aboue League meetings at the Nou Camp is that Barcelona have won three of the last 5 meetings to nil, while also letting in just 3 goals at the Nou Camp all season, which makes the 11/10 with Ladbrokes that they win to nil the recommended suggestion.