After their winning start to the Championship season on Saturday, Stoke City will play host to Fleetwood Town in an EFL Cup first-round clash on Tuesday.
The Potters secured a narrow victory in an entertaining encounter with Reading, while their visitors suffered a defeat in their opening game of the League One campaign last time out.
Match preview
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After an disappointing end to the 2020-21 season, resulting in a drop to 14th place, Stoke City headed into this Championship campaign with the aim of pushing for the top six.
They got off to a strong start on Saturday, taking three points from a dramatic clash with Reading.
Nick Powell opened the scoring for the Potters in the 25th minute, only for John Swift to equalise a minute later before Jacob Brown immediately restored the lead in to cap off an eye-catching spell of just four minutes.
Reading would again draw level on the hour mark through Liam Moore, and the game looked set to end level until Sam Surridge hit the winner with five minutes to go, sealing all three points for his side.
Michael O'Neill will certainly be pleased with his side's start as they hope to build a winning run to establish themselves in the top six, but for now, the Staffordshire outfit will turn their attention to the cup, as they go in search of a second straight win to book their spot in the second round.
They take on a Fleetwood town side who will look to bounce back from a disappointing defeat on the opening day of the League One season on Saturday.
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Simon Grayson's men faced a difficult test on the opening day, as they played host to Danny Cowley's Portsmouth.
The game remained goalless until the 60th minute, when Lee Brown put the visitors ahead, and Fleetwood would not find an equaliser, falling to a 1-0 defeat as a result.
After reaching the playoffs in the 2019-20 season, the Cod Army had a disappointing campaign last year, finishing in 13th spot with just a 13-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone.
They will hope to bounce back this year and battle for a top-half finish, with Tuesday providing a chance to build confidence with what would be a statement victory over a heavily-fancied Championship side.
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Team News
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Stoke City have seen a major change of players over the summer, with the likes of Bruno Martins Indi, John Obi Mikel, Kevin Wimmer, Ryan Woods and Nathan Collins all leaving permanently while midfielder Peter Etebo and forward Benik Afobe have departed on loan.
O'Neill responded with several notable additions, bringing in forward Sam Surridge from AFC Bournemouth and defender Ben Wilmot from Watford alongside Mario Vrancic from Norwich to boost their midfield ranks.
Surridge hit the winning goal off the bench on Saturday, and he should be handed his first competitive start in the upcoming cup clash, while O'Neill will likely make further changes to take a closer look at more members of his squad.
Star forward Tyrese Campbell should be the only absentee, as he remains out of action with an injury that saw him miss a large portion of last season.
Grayson also made plenty of additions to his side over the summer, bringing in youngsters Ryan Edmondson and Callum Morton on loan alongside established league stars such as Max Clark, Tom Clarke and Anthony Pilkington.
Jordan Rossiter and Harrison Biggins will likely continue to partner up in midfield with both Paul Coutts and Mark Duffy having left the club.
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Bursik; Smith, Wilmot, Souttar, Fox; Vrancic, Clucas, Doughty; Ince, Surridge, Brown
Fleetwood Town possible starting lineup:
Cairns; Clarke, Hill, Andrew; Halliday, Biggins, Rossiter, Clark; Edmondson, Morton, Morris
We say: Stoke City 2-0 Fleetwood Town
The Potters should rotate their squad to an extent, but they will still have more than enough to get past Fleetwood on Tuesday.
The squad players will be keen to impress to push their bid for a starting spot going forward, meaning they should put up an impressive display and brush the visitors aside.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Stoke City win with a probability of 46.53%. A win for Fleetwood Town had a probability of 26.97% and a draw had a probability of 26.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Stoke City win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.19%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.03%) and 2-0 (8.78%). The likeliest Fleetwood Town win was 0-1 (8.71%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.54%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Stoke City would win this match.
