Stoke City on the Brink

The Monday night football in the Premier League this week is a massive game at the bottom of the table between West Ham United and Stoke City.

West Ham start the match in 15th place, 6 points clear of the relegation zone with 34 points to their name. A win in this game would see them move 9 points clear of 18th place Southampton and ease their relegation worries this season.

Stoke City will begin the game in 19th place, 6 points adrift of safety.  A win in this match would not be good enough to lift them out of the drop zone but it would give them some belief they could escape going into the final fixtures of the season.

West Ham come into the match on the back of an excellent 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.  The point followed a very good 3-0 win over Southampton at home and the fan troubles which brewed prior to the international break have since ebbed away.

However, the two results following the international friendlies have come against the trend for West Ham, which shows they have won just two of their last eleven games in all competitions.  The Hammers have lost by 3 or more goals in three of their last five Premier League games but will be happy this match is at home, having lost only one of their last seven at home in all competitions.

Stoke City travel south to London in dreadful form and trends show they have lost each of their last four Premier League games.

Perhaps the most alarming thing for Stoke fans is that three of those four defeats have come at home and while two of them were against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, the Potters were hoping to pick up maximum points against Everton.

Stoke have won just one of their last fifteen games in all competitions and only one of their last eighteen away from home.  You must go back to the 28th October 2017 to find the last time Stoke won a match on the road and it was at Watford in the Premier League.  That’s the only away win Stoke have achieved this season.

Scoring away goals has proven tough for Stoke City and they have netted four times in their last nine away games.

Looking ahead to the team news and West Ham could be without several players due to injury including Pedro Obiang, Winston Reid, Sam Byram, Andy Carroll, and Michail Antonio.  Manuel Lanzini and James Collins are doubts.

Stoke will be without the injured duo of Lee Grant and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.  Kevin Wimmer and Konstantinos Stafylidis are both doubts, while Charlie Adam is suspended and Ibrahim Afellay has had a bust-up with the manager.

This is the perfect match for West Ham to move away from the relegation zone and a win would leave them feeling confident of their Premier League future.  Stoke are struggling and its hard to make a case for them to pick up anything from this game.