Swansea vs Stoke Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 12, 2015 @ 10:21 am

The supporters at Swansea will be in delirium after Wales sealed qualification to Euro 2016 in France next June despite suffering a 2-0 defeat to Bosnia & Herzegovina on Saturday night. They’ll be delighted that one of their own was leading the side out in triumph through their successful campaign as Ashley Williams will be full of confidence heading back to Swansea. He’ll now be desperate to improve Swansea’s performances as they’ve struggled of late despite getting the season off to a good start.

Mark Hughes meanwhile has enjoyed 3 successive victories by the odd goal with victories over Fulham, AFC Bournemouth and Aston Villa. Having taken just 2 points from their opening 5 league games, Stoke City have started to string some results together and back the high predictions that were expected of them prior to Premier League 15/16 season with the high profile signings of Xherdan Shaqiri, Marco Van Ginkel and Glen Johnson.

Andre Ayew has been a revelation since arriving from Marseille on a free transfer and despite demanding a hefty wage deal, he has justified the faith shown in him by the club with important goals. He was withdrawn from the Ghana squad for a friendly against Canada during the international break and he’s also been in the media recently strongly linked with a move to Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp looks to put his own identity on his new side. There are also rumours that the Ghanaian captain is amongst the contenders for the FIFA Ballon d’Or award as is former Swansea forward, Wilfried Bony.

Swansea have gone from being unbeaten in their first 5 games in all competitions to now winless in their last 5. Stoke City as mentioned have won 3 on the bounce but the Liberty Stadium is one of their least preferred destinations and is somewhat of a bogey ground for the Potters. In 7 visits they’ve not won and that psychological barrier will be one Mark Hughes hopes his men can forget about. Swansea’s 9 Premier League goals have been shared between 3 players as Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis have 4 goals each whilst Gylfi Sigurdsson scored his first goal of the season in their 2-2 draw with Tottenham last time out.

Stoke’s No.2 goalkeeper was taken off in Republic of Ireland’s 1-0 win over Germany as Shay Given suffered a knee injury in the first half. Ryan Shawcross continues his steady recovery from back surgery and recently featured in Stoke’s development side against Port Vale. Xherdan Shaqiri also sustained an injury in a Switzerland training session and will be assessed by the Stoke medical team when he reports back for club duties. Swansea’s only concern is Ayew who pulled out of the Ghana squad despite completing the full 90 minutes against Tottenham.

Swansea City

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-4

Recent Form - LDLLD

Stoke City

Stats: W-2 L-3 D-3

Recent Form - LDWWW

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Swansea City (4-2-3-1) – Fabianski, Rangel, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor, Ki, Shelvey, Ayew, Sigurdsson, Montero, Gomis. 

Stoke City (4-4-1-1) – Butland, Johnson, Cameron, Wollscheid, Pieters, Walters, Adam, Whelan, Arnautovic, Bojan, Joselu.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Swansea City- None
Stoke City – Given (inj), Shawcross (inj), Shaqiri (inj)

League Positions