Preston

The Potters have impressed recently and rank second in the five-game form table in the Championship. Only Middlesbrough have taken more points than Stoke in that period.

In-fact, ‘Boro are also the only side to take three points from The Bet 365 stadium this season, in a 3-2 win. Aside from that, Stoke have won three and drawn one.

They also dismantled Charlton here in a 4-0 win, creating 1.84 xG and racking up eight shots on target.

Preston are in dire form and average 1.74 xGA, one of the worst defences in the league.

They’ve won just one game all season and are winless on the road, losing five of six and conceding 15 times.

Galbraith has emerged as a key creative force for Stoke and currently leads the goal scoring charts for them and also chipped in with three assists, getting back towards the kind of output we saw during his time at Leyton Orient.

He’s also been good at winning fouls. Galbraith has drawn an average of 1.17 fouls per 90 minutes and his 14 fouls drawn is the second highest in the squad.

In midfield, he’ll come up against Leo Leroy, who has averaged 1.40 fouls per 90 minutes and has already been carded four times.

Preston have averaged 12 fouls per match.

The Preston centre-half has an impressive record when it comes to winning fouls. His 12 drawn this season is the second-highest in the PNE squad and he’s averaged 1.20 fouls drawn per 90 minutes.

He was fouled twice against West Brom last week and has been fouled at least once in eight out of ten matches this season.

The predicted front three for Stoke of McGlynn, Devenny and Cisse average 2.89 fouls per 90 combined.

Stoke also average 12 fouls per match and I’m expecting this to be a physical affair with both sides playing plenty of direct football.

Soumare’s 15 fouls sits him second in the rankings for Stoke, behind Ethan Galbraith who he partners with in midfield.

Soumare has averaged 1.50 fouls per 90 minutes. He’s fouled in eight of his 11 Championship starts and in six of his last seven appearances. He committed two fouls last week and was booked. 

The aforementioned Leo Leroy, although a heavy tackler himself, he actually draws a few fouls and has been impeded an average of 1.20 times per 90 minutes this season.

Alfie Devine draws 0.66 per 90 too and is a real creative outlet in a poor side, he’ll need closely marshalled.