After the turn of the year, Stoke City traveled to Hartlepool United in the third round of the FA Cup. They won 3-0, including a goal from Jacob Brown and two own goals, to comfortably advance. With just 30 points from their first 27 games, the Staffordshire team was 19th in England’s second division. They set out to start a climb back up the division by beating Reading at home on Saturday.
After the World Cup, Alex Neil’s team had a tough run of form in the Championship. After winning the cup, the Potters traveled to Sheffield United, who were in second place, and lost their third league game in a row, losing 3-1 at Bramall Lane after Nick Powell had pulled it back to 2-1 late in the first half.
Prediction
We say: We back Neil’s team to overcome a difficult test and advance to the next round, despite the fact that Stevenage do come into the match with momentum and have already caused an upset in this year’s competition. Stoke City 2-1 Stevenage
Head to head
| Head To Head | ||
| Wins | Draws | Wins |
| Statistics | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 0 | Goals | 4 |
| 0 | Yellow cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red cards | 0 |
Lineup
Stoke City:
- Sarkic;
- Wilmot, Jagielka, Fox, Tymon;
- Smallbone, Laurent, Baker;
- Campbell, Gayle, Brown
Stevenage:
- Ashby-Hammond;
- Wildin, Piergianni, Vancooten, Sweeney, Clark;
- Gilbey, Reeves, Roberts;
- Reid, Norris
Team news
Ben Wilmot, Phil Jagielka, Morgan Fox, and Josh Tymon could all keep their positions at the back in the event that Nick Powell is ruled out once more. In the engine room, key man Lewis Baker should be joined by Will Smallbone and Josh Laurent if Nick Powell is ruled out again. There are growing rumors that center back Harry Souttar might leave.
Since Josef Bursik left recently, Matija Sarkic, a goalkeeper on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, may make his Potters debut. The Montenegrin international is competing with Jack Bonham for the starting spot between the sticks.
Given the Boro’s impressive recent performances, we should again see a starting XI that is very similar to the one that was used in their victory over Leyton Orient last time out. The Stevenage team that won away at Aston Villa had very few changes from the team that played in their victory over Leyton Orient the previous time out.
Betting tips
In the previous 17 games, Stevenage has not lost a single one. In 15 of its last 16 games, Stoke City has kicked fewer than 4.5 corners. In 14 of its last 16 games, Stoke City has scored less than 2.5 goals. In each of their last four away games, Stevenage has scored less than 2.5 goals.
Where to watch
Sony LIV is the only platform that will stream the Emirates FA Cup 2022-23 live.