Prediction: Stoke vs Swansea



Verdict: Home win

Best Odds: 21/20

Bookmaker: William Hill

Stoke City have finally started showing improvement after a dreadful start and they now have a good opportunity to defeat relegation rivals Swansea and move further away from the bottom three. The Swans may have ended the losing run as they shared spoils with Watford, but they will have to start winning soon or risk reaching the point of no return.

Stoke

Stoke City were widely expected to continue their uptrend in fortunes this season as Mark Hughes managed to keep hold of all star players, while adding the likes of Joe Allen, Bruno Martins Indi, Wilfried Bony and Ramadan Sobhi to his ranks, but the Potters instead enjoyed a nightmare start to the new campaign. While some important players were not in the best shape after taking part at the Euro 2016 finals, others failed to impress also, which resulted in the team slipping to the bottom three after taking mere two points from first five league fixtures. However, Stoke City eventually came good and after back to back draws against West Bromwich and Manchester United proved steps in the right direction, the Potters went on to record the first wins of the campaign, defeating Sunderland and Hull City without conceding. The good news is they are again facing a bottom-table side that have been utterly disappointing of late, so we will not be surprised if they make it three on the bounce. A couple of good results were all the Potters needed to turn things around and we believe their performances will be at a much higher level in weeks to come.

Team News

Geoff Cameron will play through the pain after impressing in central midfield role, while Wilfried Bony is likely to keep his place despite failing to score in six starts.

The injury situation is basically the same as last week considering that Jack Butland, Glen Johnson, Stephen Ireland and Ibrahim Afellay are all out.



Swansea

Swansea had been the surprise package in English Premier League for quite a few years since gaining promotion to the elite division, but the last couple of seasons have been a major disappointment. The Swans somehow managed to avoid the drop last term, but have now become one of the main candidates to get relegated, and can be backed at 13/8 to go down. The opening win over newly promoted Burnley now looks like a distant past, which is not surprising when we know that the Liberty Stadium outfit have since picked up mere two points, while also crashing out from the EFL Cup. Italian coach Francesco Guidolin has paid the price for disappointing results, with former USA boss Bob Bradley brought to replace him, and there have been a small improvement under the new manager. After the 3-2 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates, Swansea played out a goalless draw with Watford last time out, but, nonetheless, remained two points adrift of safety. The Swans now need to try and avoid defeat at Britannia Stadium, which is not going to be an easy task considering Stoke City’s latest performances, and we doubt this will be the weekend when Swansea turn things around.

Team News

Fernando Llorente, Jordi Amat and Leroy Fer have lost their places since the arrival of Bob Bradley, and it remains to be seen whether any of them will be recalled.

Nathan Dyer continues to miss out through injury, but exciting winger Jefferson Monterohas resumed training after recovering from an ankle problem.

Key Factors to Consider

• Stoke City won their last two fixtures without conceding
• Swansea are on an eight-match winless run (D2 L6)
• The Swans lost 4 of 6 home games this season (D2)
• Stoke won the same fixture 1-0 last season
• Joe Allen scored 5 goals in last 5 matches for club and country

Conclusion

Stoke City have seriously raised their form of late and with Xherdan Shaqiri back to his best, we fully expect the Potters to pile more misery on sorry Swansea. The Swans may have shown signs of improvement under Bob Bradley, but they could find it hard to avoid defeat at the Britannia Stadium.

Verdict: Home win

Best Odds: 21/20

Bookmaker: William Hill