Both these sides could do with a league win after a string of poor results in recent weeks. Stoke lost 3-0 at home to Liverpool in midweek but will be hopeful of a better result when hosting relegation threatened Swansea City who lost at Chelsea on Wednesday.
It’s been a disappointing season so far for Stoke City who have lost half of their 14 league games this season and start this weekend in 16th place. They struggle big-time when it comes to consistency and you have to go back to January of this year for the last time they won two league games in a row. Just one win would be acceptable at present with just two points from their last four league games.
Conceding goals is their major problem at present. 29 have been conceded in 14 league games and it’s become almost a tradition to score against them at least twice. The last 12 league and cup games have only seen them avoid conceding twice against Watford and Southampton and the last four games have seen them let in nine goals.
They don’t have problems getting on the scoresheet with seven of the last eight games played seeing them score and only Liverpool keeping a clean sheet against them. Following this game, Stoke travel to Tottenham and Burnley and with only three points between them and the relegation zone, they could soon be in deep trouble.
That relegation zone currently contains Swansea City who are 19th in the table three points from safety. They are only being kept off the bottom of the table on goal difference from Crystal Palace and have only won two of their 14 league games with just one point from their last six league matches.
The summer saw Swansea sell some top players and they simply haven’t replaced them, hence their current problems. At least they can welcome back Tammy Abraham into the side after only being sub last weekend and unable to play against his parent club Chelsea in midweek. The England striker needs to start finding the net on a regular basis with his club having only scored seven goals in 14 league games, less than anyone else in the league. Abraham has scored four of Swansea’s seven league goals, so it’s important he gets back in the team and back on the scoresheet.
Swansea have only won one of their seven away league games and not too surprisingly that was against Crystal Palace. They have only managed to score three goals but only conceded six so don’t look for this to be a goalfest despite Stoke’s rather generous defence.
Conclusion
The past couple of seasons have seen Swansea City battling against relegation and this season that nightmare is happening all over again. They badly need someone up front to partner Tammy Abraham and to get that midfield creating chances again. Both sides are in poor form at the moment and even though Stoke keep conceding they don’t come up against a side struggling so much in front of goals as Swansea City. A bet on under 2.5 goals looks the one to go for here.
The Key Stats
Last Five Premier League Results – Most recent first
Stoke City – LLDDW
Swansea City – LDLLL
Head to Head – Last Five League Meetings
22/03/17 – Swansea City 2 Stoke City 0
31/11/16 – Stoke City 3 Swansea City 1
02/04/16 – Stoke City 2 Swansea City 2
19/10/15 – Swansea City 0 Stoke City 1
02/05/15 – Swansea City 2 Stoke City 0
- Stoke City have only won two out of seven home league games this season.
- Only West Ham United have conceded more Premier League goals this season than Stoke City.
- Only Watford have conceded more home Premier League goals than Stoke City.
- Stoke City have conceded at least twice in nine of their last 11 league games and in each of their last four.
- Both teams have scored in six of the last eight Stoke league games.
- Six of the last eight Stoke games have had over 2.5 goals scored in them.
- With just seven goals, Swansea City are the lowest scorers in the Premier League.
- 14 Swansea league games have only see 23 goals scored.
- Swansea City have failed to score in their last four league games.
- Swansea City have only scored once in their last five away league games.
- The last four Swansea City away league games have all ended in defeat.