Stoke will look to collect three points against a high-flying Leicester side at the King Power Stadium, after what was an unjust loss against Southampton.
The Potters’ focus now turns to top-of-the-table Leicester City who look bound for promotion after multiple stellar performances.
With injury woes continuing for The Potters, it will almost certainly be Stoke's most challenging
fixture to date.
Here's everything you need to know about The Potters' upcoming game against The Foxes…
Team News
To call it a massacre would be an understatement as almost the entirety of The Potters' back line is
on Stoke's seemingly ever-expanding injury list.
Ben Wilmot left the Southampton game on crutches and Ki-Jana Hoever also left the field with an
injury. With Stoke only having two fit centre-backs going into the Southampton game (that being
McNally and Wilmot) and with one of them now being injured it does beg the question what will
Alex Neil do?
Stevens is still out injured and with no concrete evidence coming out from the club about Hoever's
recovery, it will perhaps mean Jordan Thompson will step in at the left-back or centre-back position.
Mehdi Leris also played a few games as a right-back and could potentially play in the left-back role.
No updates have been posted about Ryan Mmaee and Andre Vidigal's recovery as well.
Predicted line up vs Leicester:
(GK) Travers, Leris, McNally, Thompson, Tchamadeu, Pearson, Laurent, Johnson, Haksabanovic, Lowe, Wesley.
The Manager
Enzo Maresca has had a brilliant start to the season having an instant impact since joining Leicester
City at the start of the season.
Maresca focuses heavily on deep build-up play with short passes from the back line to beat the high press. The goalkeeper often joins the backline which allows one of the full backs inside whilst
keeping four in the back line helping to form a double pivot.
As a result of the fullback forming the double pivot, it allows other midfielders to push higher up the
pitch and assist the centre forward.
Maresca aims to control possession and focuses on pressing intensity to regain the ball as quickly as possible.
Source: The Coaches Voice
Head to Head
Leicester just edge it as the most successful team overall, winning 34, drawing 35 and losing 33.
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