Stoke have the bit between their teeth and can see off Manchester City at generous odds of 2/1 on Wednesday.
The two teams have become very acquainted in recent weeks and Stoke have acquitted themselves very well - getting a replay pretty comfortably at Eastlands and only being denied victory in the league game by a ridiculously bad decision to rule out Ryan Shawcross' late header.
We suggested backing Stoke to progress before the tough first game and see no reason to suggest why Roberto Mancini's side should be 6/4 favourites for the replay.
Mancini seems to have alienated some of his players with his training methods and the influential Carlos Tevez is still absent.
If Craig Bellamy starts, the visitors will at least have some spark but Stoke are a dogged outfit who will be feeling a real sense of injustice.
The match is going to be available live on itv.com apparently and hopefully that will persuade Sporting Index to open a bookings market.
If it's 50 or less it's probably worth a buy - even if the first cup game only produced one yellow card.
