It seems many moons ago that Stoke were travelling to the Reebok Stadium in their Premier League baptism of fire. Just two seasons ago, the Potters were welcomed in no uncertain terms to the holy grail of English football with a crushing defeat that led to one bookmaker (Paddy Power) paying out on Stoke to be relegated, just one game into the season.
The unforgiving nature of the Premier League saw Stoke trailing 3-0 at half-time thanks to a combination of inexperience, an opening goal that bewildered not only the scorer Gretar Steinsson but the 22,000 in attendance and also the uncompromising aerial bombardment towards the ever reliable Kevin Davies, better known now as England’s new ‘plan B’.
However, the Potters have now come to terms with the vigour of England’s top-flight and are no longer heading into the unknown. Last season saw Stoke almost exact their revenge at the Reebok after the forgotten man, Dave Kitson expertly curled a second half strike past Jussi Jaaskelainen which looked to have earned the visitors all three points. It took until the final minute and a careless, unnecessary challenge from Danny Collins on Sam Ricketts to allow Matt Taylor to confidently salvage a share of the spoils from the penalty spot.
Both sides will be pleased with their point tallies so far and would definitely have been unhappy with the timing of the international break. The Potters had recorded two straight league victories and are unbeaten in five games having moved into the European places following a poor start to the campaign, while the home side have only lost once this season. Despite drawing the last three, Owen Coyle’s side can take many positives with two away draws in the Midlands at Aston Villa and West Brom with a thrilling 2-2 draw at home to Man United sandwiched in between. The Trotters were unlucky not to beat United after creating some excellent openings to win the match.
Stoke will be roared by their largest away following for almost two years with over 4000 tickets snapped up. As Tony Pulis’ side look to build on their recent results, the travelling fans will be hoping for a repeat of the second half of their last away fixture at Newcastle which saw Stoke throw caution to wind and adopt a more adventurous style in turning round a 1-0 deficit to win on Tyneside. The Potters will certainly fancy their chances in Lancashire, but Bolton will prove a tough test as they look to return to winning ways and leapfrog Stoke in the table.
The battle between both captains is sure to be a feisty affair on the field. Kevin Davies will be hungry to follow up his lively cameo role on his England debut during the week and inflict more painful memories on Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross who will remember only too well the torrid time the 33-year old gave him two seasons ago. Shawcross will be hoping to impress as he himself hopes for the call from Capello and a solid display against England’s oldest debutant for 60 years can only help his case. Equally as exciting will be the battle between Stoke’s in-form striker Kenywne Jones and Gary Cahill, who was an unused substitute at Wembley, missing out to Joleon Lescott at the heart of England’s defence.
Both sides have players returning from international duty and it was not such a good week for a lot of the players. Davies’ strike partner Johan Elmander was in Amsterdam for Sweden’s 4-1 defeat to Holland, while keeper Jaaskelainen was denied a point on his return to the Finnish national team following a last minute goal from Hungary in Helsinki and Tamir Cohen was twice on the losing side for Israel.
Stoke stopper Thomas Sorensen was substituted after just half an hour in Denmark’s defeat in Portugal but looks to be winning his battle to be fit for Saturday after suffering a muscle strain in his hip. There were both sets of players in Iceland as Stoke’s Eidur Gudjohnsen and Bolton’s Gretar Steinsson were part of the squad defeated by Portugal on Tuesday. Danny Collins and Sam Ricketts were also on the same side as Wales were beaten twice to Bulgaria and Switzerland. Collins will be up against Martin Petrov for twice in a week after the Bolton winger was part of the Bulgaria side that were victorious in Cardiff.
Owen Coyle will be wary of the fitness of midfielders Chung-Yong lee and Stuart Holden who were involved in internationals outside of Europe. American international, Holden was in the States for games against Poland and Colombia whilst Lee was in action for South Korea in a 0-0 draw with Japan.
Stoke have some positive team news as City defender Andy Wilkinson has reported fit for Saturday's trip after recovering from his latest injury setback. The right back had aggravated his knee ligament damage suffered at Chelsea in August but should start in defence after a fortnights respite and a run out for the reserves earlier in the week.
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