Struggling Stoke City will be hoping to pull off an upset when they welcome high-flying Preston North End in the upcoming league round. It's 20th vs 6th and the home crowd will have moderate expectations.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Stoke City form and stats
6-3-7 (win-draw-lost) are the Championship numbers at home for Stoke City so far this season. Two home wins in a row for Stoke City bring valid hopes of a third.
A nice win for Stoke City last time playing, versus Charlton Athletic. That was also a home game and the match ended 3-1 with Thomas Ince, James McClean and Nick Powell scoring for the victors. Prior to that was the away defeat visiting Derby County (0-4).
The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Stoke City have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found nine games) they have won three times, drawn three and lost three.
There's a new game coming up fairly quickly for Stoke City as they are travelling to their away game against Queens Park Rangers in the Championship. That match is three days after this one.
Stoke City has scored 22 league goals at home this season, in 16 matches. Stoke City have conceded 21 in these home matches.
Preston North End form and stats
4 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses. That’s the product of Preston North End playing as the away team in the Championship this season. Preston North End has recorded two wins in a row in their away matches and hold legitimate hopes of a third one.
It's the second away game in a row for Preston North End, but there's smiles all around after the 2-1 victory versus Wigan Athletic (placed 22nd) in the Championship last time out. A 1-1 draw was the result before that, hosting Swansea City.
We have checked recent matches where Preston North End have had similar odds to win. Win-draw-lose statistics from those eight games were three victories, zero draws and five defeats.
After this away game Preston North End return home for a Championship game against Millwall. That game is only three sleeps after this.
The visitors have scored 13 goals from 15 away games in the league, an average of less than one per game. 17 goals have been conceded by Preston North End in these games.
Head 2 Head
These teams' last encounter with each other was the Preston North End - Stoke City 3-1 earlier this season. Head-2-head stats last ten meetings: two - four - four (Stoke City wins - draws - Preston North End wins). As for goals, four matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), six had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  D. Johnson 10 goals |  T. Barkhuizen 8 goals |   S. Clucas 7 goals |
Stoke City missing players
Preston North End missing players
| Stoke City | Preston North End | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 31 | 16 | 5 | Played | P | 5 | 15 | 31 |
| 10 | 6 | 1 | Won | W | 3 | 4 | 14 |
| 4 | 3 | 0 | Drew | D | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 17 | 7 | 4 | Lost | L | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| 39 | 22 | 5 | Scored | S | 7 | 13 | 45 |
| 47 | 21 | 10 | Conceded | C | 4 | 17 | 36 |
| 90% | 88% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 93% | 97% |
| 74% | 81% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 80% | 60% | 77% |
| 61% | 62% | 60% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 40% | 27% | 45% |
| 29% | 25% | 20% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 13% | 23% |
| 13% | 12% | 20% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 7% | 13% |
| 52% | 50% | 40% | BTTS | BTTS | 40% | 40% | 55% |
| 23% | 31% | 20% | Clean Sheets | C S | 40% | 27% | 19% |
| 35% | 31% | 40% | Failed to Score | F T | 20% | 40% | 29% |
| 4.8 | 5.8 | 5.4 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.9 |
| 4 | 4 | 4.6 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5 | 5.8 | 5.5 |
| 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.6 | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 376 | 226 | 61 | Total Shots | T S | 55 | 168 | 360 |
| 113 | 64 | 23 | Shots on Target | S O | 16 | 48 | 117 |
| 35% | 34% | 22% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 44% | 27% | 38% |
- Stoke City have played more matches over 2,5 goals home than away.
- Stoke City have won significantly more corners at home than away.
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | West Bromwich Albion | 30 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 53 | 33 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 32 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 21 | 13 | 20 | 56 |
| 2 | Leeds United | 31 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 46 | 29 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 13 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 24 | 16 | 17 | 55 |
| 3 | Fulham | 31 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 46 | 32 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 29 | 18 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 55 |
| 4 | Nottingham Forest | 31 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 43 | 30 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 15 | 16 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 15 | 13 | 54 |
| 5 | Brentford | 31 | 16 | 5 | 10 | 52 | 25 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 28 | 12 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 24 | 13 | 27 | 53 |
| 6 | Preston North End | 31 | 14 | 8 | 9 | 45 | 36 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 32 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 17 | 9 | 50 |
| 7 | Bristol City | 31 | 14 | 8 | 9 | 45 | 43 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 21 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 22 | 2 | 50 |
| 8 | Cardiff City | 31 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 43 | 43 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 22 | 12 | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 21 | 31 | 0 | 46 |
| 9 | Swansea City | 31 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 37 | 37 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 46 |
| 10 | Millwall | 30 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 38 | 35 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 14 | 16 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 15 | 21 | 3 | 45 |
| 11 | Sheffield Wednesday | 31 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 41 | 34 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 27 | 19 | 7 | 44 |
| 12 | Blackburn Rovers | 31 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 43 | 38 | 16 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 24 | 24 | 5 | 44 |
| 13 | Derby County | 31 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 38 | 41 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 30 | -3 | 43 |
| 14 | Hull City | 31 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 43 | 44 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 23 | 24 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 20 | -1 | 40 |
| 15 | Birmingham City | 31 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 40 | 48 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 22 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 26 | -8 | 40 |
| 16 | Reading | 31 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 37 | 35 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 16 | 2 | 39 |
| 17 | Queens Park Rangers | 31 | 11 | 5 | 15 | 47 | 56 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 29 | 28 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 18 | 28 | -9 | 38 |
| 18 | Middlesbrough | 31 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 32 | 40 | 16 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 25 | -8 | 36 |
| 19 | Huddersfield Town | 31 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 37 | 48 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 21 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 19 | 27 | -11 | 35 |
| 20 | Stoke City | 31 | 10 | 4 | 17 | 39 | 47 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 22 | 21 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 26 | -8 | 34 |
| 21 | Charlton Athletic | 31 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 40 | 45 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 18 | 26 | -5 | 33 |
| 22 | Wigan Athletic | 31 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 29 | 46 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 20 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 26 | -17 | 29 |
| 23 | Barnsley | 31 | 5 | 10 | 16 | 37 | 57 | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 25 | 30 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 27 | -20 | 25 |
| 24 | Luton Town | 31 | 7 | 3 | 21 | 37 | 66 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 25 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 41 | -29 | 24 |
- Stoke City
- StokeonTrent Live - (local newspaper)
- Preston North End
- Lancashire Post - (local newspaper)