English Football League / Andrew French / 29 February 2008 /

Andrew French looks ahead to a big Championship clash as high-flyers Stoke travel to Loftus Road

It's akin to watching a game of pass the parcel where the participants assume there's a bomb inside the wrapping paper. The leadership of the Championship does seem to bring the worst out in clubs.

Watford, West Brom, Bristol City and Stoke have all had spells at the top recently, but whether it's anticipation, excitement or just a fear of heights, they've all eventually shuffled themselves back down into 'the pack'.

Stoke almost blew their chance of going top recently when they allowed struggling Scunthorpe to take a 2-0 lead at the Britannia Stadium before coming back to win 3-2. Then, as soon as they got to the summit, they went and lost 2-0 in midweek at Preston.

Today the Potters visit QPR in a live Sky game, and manager Tony Pulis will know his side cannot afford to make many more slip-ups, even in a league where the promotion contenders are making a habit of giving their main rivals a sporting chance.

Pulis lamented his side's finishing at Preston, yet it was a rare off-night for a team that has smacked in 59 goals in the league already this season.

With today's hosts Rangers having one of the leakier defences, I think backing Over 2.5 goals at [1.98] is a decent bet regardless of what you think the final outcome may be.

For me, the draw is where my money will be going - the stalemate can be backed at [3.45]. As I've said, Stoke score goals and Tuesday's blank was a rarity - however, since Rangers sorted their money problems out and brought in new players, they too have moved up the table and found goals easier to come by.

Patrick Agyemang has hit eight in nine outings since joining from Preston for £350,000 in early January, and Rangers also have the likes of Rowan Vine, who cost £1m when he moved from Birmingham during the transfer window.

Therefore, I think backing 1-1 and 2-2 at [7.2] and [16.0] should offer a value alternative to simply taking the outright draw odds.

Rangers clearly like to get at their visitors from the outset, as evidenced by the fact they have scored inside the first 20 minutes of each of their last five games at Loftus Road. Therefore, backing the opening goal to arrive between 11 and 20 minutes at [4.6], and also between 21 and 30 minutes at [5.5], covers you both for Rangers getting off to a similar flier, and for an early strike from the visitors - who, after all, love getting the ball into the box at every opportunity.

I really can't see this game ending goalless and so depending on your preference you could easily back 'no' or lay 'yes' for both teams on the respective clean sheet markets.

However, because Rangers have led at half-time in six of their last eight home fixtures, I think they may well do so again - however, Stoke cannot afford to end the week with nothing from either of their two away trips, and so I will be backing QPR/Draw at [18.0] in the Half-Time/Full-Time market.

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