Stoke City v Bristol City Stoke City boss Gary Rowett may rotate his players again as the Potters play their fourth game in 11 days. Full-back Erik Pieters is doubtful with a hamstring injury, while Peter Etebo is pushing for a start. Bristol City defender Eros Pisano is expected to play after he was rested for Saturday's win against Rotherham. Nathan Baker faces a late fitness test on a calf problem, while Lloyd Kelly and Andreas Weimann may be recalled to Lee Johnson's starting XI. Match facts Stoke are unbeaten in their last eight home league games against Bristol City (W6 D2), with this their first against them since April 2008 - a 2-1 win. Since beating Stoke in back-to-back league meetings in 1959, Bristol City have only won two of their following 18 such matches against the Potters (D7 L9). Stoke boss Gary Rowett has only lost one of his six previous Championship games against Bristol City as a manager (W3 D2), a 4-1 defeat as Derby County boss at Ashton Gate in September 2017. Bristol City have lost 14 of their last 16 away league matches played on New Year's Day, drawing the other two. Their last away win on 1 January came in 1903 at Blackpool, a 1-0 victory. Stoke City's Tom Ince has been directly involved in 10 goals in nine league appearances against Bristol City, scoring eight and assisting two. Lee Johnson has lost his two league matches on New Year's Day by an aggregate score of 7-1 (Oldham 1-2 Shrewsbury in 2014, Aston Villa 5-0 Bristol City in 2018). DH ~ https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/preparation-is-key-holden/ DH ~https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/the-inside-line-pre-stoke-city-a/ Rowett's Review ~ https://www.stokecityfc.com/news/rowetts-home-aim * No pay on the day ~ https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/no-pay-on-the-day-at-stoke/ * International livestream for Potters trip ~ https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/international-livestream-for-potters-trip/ Prutton's prediction (Sky) - Bristol City Defeat. David Prutton predicts: 1-0
Difficult game , but who knows we seem to be one of those spells when we do well against decent opponents, especially away from home.
Stoke are below us for a reason. They are not invincible and we owe them (and particularly Butland) for their smash and grab at Ashton Gate. Let’s hope LJ will have the players fired up for this and remind them of that!
on historical paper, it is a hard nut to crack ...annoying thing is circumstances commit me to not knowing the result until at least past 5pm ... I shall be beyond the realms of the terrestrial planet surface from about 3pm onward! might not even get to know the result until 6pm!!!!!!... but hopefully the local pub might be open about then ......... and one way or another can either celebrate or drown ......................
And guess what, I wouldn't give a hoot, if it was the most boring game of the season and came away with 3 points!!
I shall get it smack in the face .. win lose or draw ... whether boring or not .. after 5pm radio Bristol at some point will say " blah blah blah ? v ? .... or "well it brought the number of unbeaten games to" ..answer a) 8 answer b) end ............
Stoke fans aren't happy with Rowett in charge, so a nice early goal to get the crowd on the teams back would be nice and hopefully work in our advantage
Dean Holden Audio. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/audio-dean-holden-pre-stoke-city-away-press-conference/
We'll bookmark this for later. ☺ As has been said, it would be nice if we could pay Stoke back for the reverse fixture where it was astonishing that we didn't get at least a point. We've been doing OK this season if unspectacularly, but we're still within touching distance that there's the potential to get a bit excited by the possibilities if we can go on a winning streak. We've hopefully got better strength in depth than before so hopefully we won't fall away like last season. The closest we have to a glaring issue is our attacking options, so the right striker brought in, coupled with Smith returning from injury, could be the boost we need to do something special.
New Year START worst scenario is we drop to 14th! best scenario is 9th or 10th Would have liked to see MO start but him and Pisano missing!
