Stoke could line up one the of the youngest starting XI’s if O’Neill starts with the new recruits from this Transfer Window. It’s quiet conceivable that 7 of the starting XI could be 23 and under.
It’s only been a matter of weeks since we played Blackburn. That game produced one of the best defensive displays we’d seen from O’Neill’s side. Everyone gave their all resulting in Stoke winning 1-0 after Powell scored in the 7th minute.
Current League table
How do we usually fair versus Blackburn
Stoke have faced Blackburn 97 times in the past:
Stoke Wins 37 Draws 16 Blackburn Wins 44
The last time we played Blackburn at Ewood park
The last time we played at Ewood park stoke held Blackburn to a 0-0 draw. Stoke started the better of the sides but were thankful to Jack Butland in the second half to save a point for the Potters.
Stats
Stoke have only won 2 of the last 7 against Blackburn, but won the 5 meetings previous to that.
Stoke have been in poor form since the injury to Tyrese Campbell, infact the only win in the last 9 games came against Blackburn. Blackburn aren’t in great form either winning just 2 out of the last 9
What do you expect the outcome will be versus Blackburn?
I Don’t think Stoke could of been given a harder game to open up their FA cup campaign. Leicester are not just the one season wonder many thought they would be, they are well up again with a chance of winning the Premier League, though they are still reliant on the goal scoring power of Jamie Vardy who Rodgers might not play versus Stoke.
Saturday’s game will be the 7th year we have faced Leicester in the FA Cup, Stoke progressed in 4 occasion though needed a replay on a couple of occasions. The last FA cup meeting was in 2014. Stoke won 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium.
A big question needs to be is how strong Michael O’Neill will field our team. Stoke have been hit hard with injuries this season, our league campaign is the most important competition and a one we somehow are still in contention for. Will O’Neill rest some of our players saving them from potential injury ruling them out of the league campaign.
How do we usually fair versus Leicester
Stoke have faced Leicester 101 times in the past:
Stoke Wins 33 Draws 35 Leicester Wins 33
The last time we played Leicester at the bet365 Stadium
The last time Stoke faced Leicester at the bet365 stadium it was a Premier League fixture. The game ended 2-2 with Peter Crouch coming on with 30 mins to play and score within minutes to get the point. This goal was Crouch’s 43rd goal for the Potters in the Premier League equalling Jon Walters amount as top Premier league goal scorer.
Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has not often backed Stoke in the past always seeing as a side that will struggle. This season however he’s started to feel the love for Stoke City.
How does he rate out chances versus Bournemouth
The recent injury to Tyrese Campbell can’t have helped, but Stoke are lacking a cutting edge at the moment, which has resulted in a fair few draws that have prevented them climbing into the top six.
I’m interested to see how Bournemouth respond to Wednesday’s defeat to Brentford. They started like a house on fire in west London but their influence waned as the game wore on. I think they could struggle against Michael O’Neill’s men, too.
Stoke’s current form pattern off Loss,Draw,Draw then Win means we are due a Win. Though Saturday’s opponents Bournemouth haven’t lost two games on the bounce since June. Those thinking we could beat Bournemouth easily are in for reality check come 16:55.
Last weekend I’d have given a body part for 4 points out of the Forest & Bournemouth games, the disappointing result & second half performance v Forest means we need to beat Bournemouth to meet that hope. Despite how good our defence is as of late I just can’t see Stoke shutting out Bournemouth, meaning we need to score twice to win. To put that in context, in the 6 games since Tyrese Campbell got injured Stoke have had 10 shots on target. Yes that does just say TEN.
Current League table
How do we usually fair versus Bournemouth
Stoke have faced Bournemouth 28 times in the past:
Stoke Wins 13 Draws 7 Bournemouth Wins 8
The last time we played Bournemouth at the bet365 Stadium
The last time we played Bournemouth it was a Premier League fixture. Stoke lost the game 2-1 after Junior Stanislas ripped though Stoke’s defences during the first half, scoring & assisting signing the first 20 mins to give Bournemouth a 2-0 half time lead. Stoke had started the game playing 3 at the back with Zouma, Shawcross & Cameron, in the second half we changed Shape and brought Crouch on for Johnson. Stoke regained the possession more, though could only get the deficit down to 1 with Mame Diouf scoring the Potters goal.
Stoke have won 4 of the last 10 games against Bournemouth, but haven’t won any of the last 4.
Bournemouth have only lost 2 of the last eleven games they have played. They are the joint top goal scorers in the league, on average score of 2 goals for every 1 they concede. Watching their last game versus Brentford it looked obvious Bournemouth are suspect to counter attacks as the attack in numbers leaving spaces in behind. This would of been ideal for Tyrese but unfortunately our main form of attack this season won’t be playing. Could Vokes run the channels 😳, probably not so we will need midfield runners to get beyond Vokes or Fletcher.
What do you expect the outcome will be versus Bournemouth?
Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has his say on tonight’s game versus Nottingham Forest
Though Michael O’Neill’s men probably haven’t won as many games as they’d have imagined, they’ve been almost unbeatable over the last month, with seven clean sheets from the last eight.
Such a strong defence may hamper a Forest side who are starting to put their unexpected slide towards the relegation zone behind them, but have found goals very hard to come by, for the most part, this season. I’m going for an engaging, yet low-scoring, draw.
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