Stoke vs Chelsea Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Nov 02, 2015 @ 05:33 pm

A run of 4 consecutive wins for Mark Hughes side looked to have sparked their season into life but it has laboured of late after not scoring in the past couple of Premier League games. A home defeat to Watford was compounded with a dismal 0-0 draw at St.James Park. Jack Butland was in inspired form against Newcastle and made 6 saves to deny the hosts the 3 points and the England No.2 goalkeeper will be looking to put as much pressure on his England colleague Joe Hart as much as he can with Euro 2016 approaching next summer and he would’ve done his chances no harm with his performance. The 22-year old was clearly the standout performer for Stoke and he has made more saves than any other Premier League goalkeeper this year and has shown he’s more than capable of filling the boots of the goalkeeper he’ll face on Saturday, Asmir Begovic who departed Stoke in the summer.

Chelsea are now a staggering 10 points behind 4^th placed Manchester United and some sceptical fans at Stamford Bridge might now be pondering whether the best chance of securing Champions League football next season is by repeating the antics of 2012 and winning the competition. They defied the odds against Bayern Munich in the final at the Allianz Arena and will need to defy the odds again if they’re to grasp a qualification place through the Premier League. The latest 3-1 defeat to Liverpool summed up the confidence at the club as the players looked around to try and identify what the problem was. Now they must travel to Stoke City which is a venue that has already proved problematic for them this season having been knocked out a fortnight ago of the Capital One Cup on penalties despite having a man advantage for the majority of extra time.

Chelsea haven’t won in 4 games and the tension continues to build for Mourinho’s men. Prior to losing to Stoke in the Cup this season, Chelsea had beaten Stoke in the previous 4 meetings. The defeat to Liverpool was just the second time in Mourinho’s career that he has lost 2 home games in the same calendar month with the previous time coming at Real Madrid in April 2011.

Phil Bardsley is back from suspension for Stoke City after serving the 1 match ban he received following the red card against Chelsea in the Capital One Cup fixture. Diego Costa was fortunate not to receive his marching orders after a kick out at Martin Skrtel on Saturday and is likely to get away with his actions. Thibaut Courtious and Branislav Ivanovic are key players missing for Chelsea in this critical period and with Mourinho running out of the games the duo will be desperate to contribute.

Stoke City

Stats: W-3 L-4 D-4

Recent Form – WWLDD

Chelsea

Stats: W-3 L-6 D-2

Recent Form - WDLDL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Stoke City (4-2-3-1) – Butland, Johnson, Wollscheid, Shawcross, Pieters, Whelan, Adam, Shaqiri, Bojan, Arnautovic, Walters

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) – Begovic, Zouma, Terry, Cahill, Baba, Matic, Ramires, Hazard, Fabregas, Willian, Diego Costa

Injury List/Suspended Players

Stoke City – Given (inj), Muniesa (inj), Joselu (inj), Cameron (inj)
Chelsea – Ivanovic (inj), Courtois (inj)

Stoke v Chelsea Head to Head

League Positions