2017/18 Premier League Preview Stoke City
Stoke City found life tough in the Premier League last season and will be aiming to finish higher than the 13th place they achieved in the 2016/17 campaign.
Stoke finished in their lowest position for four years, having previously finished 9th three times between 2013 and 2016. Instead of building on their foundation in the Premier League and moving up the table, Stoke went backwards and dropped four places.
Three of their four opening fixtures last season were against Manchester City, Everton and Tottenham and Stoke failed to win any of their first seven games in the Premier League.
With Everton, Arsenal and Manchester United to play at the start of this season, Mark Hughes will be hoping his team can pick up some early points and get their season off to a great start.
However, the bookmakers believe this will be another difficult season for Stoke and they are 4/11 to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Mark Hughes has found the transfer market to be an unkind place for Stoke this summer and they have lost one of their best players in Marko Arnautovic. If the Austrian had left to join a top six club or one playing Champions League football the blow would not be so bad to take but the fact he has joined West Ham United must make it a bitter pill to swallow.
Jonathan Walters and the experienced Glenn Whelan have also left the club, two players who have played a huge role in establishing Stoke as a Premier League club.
Without these three players and with a bad run of fixtures at the start of the season, Stoke could find themselves in trouble near the bottom of the table. If that’s the case, the manager’s position is sure to come under increasing scrutiny and Mark Hughes is 7/2 to be the first manager to leave his job in the Premier League this season.
That makes the Welshman joint favourite with Rafa Benitez of Newcastle United and the bookmakers feel as though his time at the Bet365 stadium could be coming to an end.
Hughes will be hoping the experience of new signing Darren Fletcher will help to steady the ship at Stoke and get them moving in the right direction. Incomings have been in short supply this summer and Fletcher joins loanee Kurt Zouma from Chelsea and free transfer Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting as Stoke’s biggest signings to date.
Stoke’s key player this season could be their goalkeeper, Jack Butland. The Englishman will be hoping to remain fit this season and he is good enough to make crucial saves in games. Butland could be the difference between Premier League and Championship football next season and he is 66/1 to win the Golden Glove award.
Stoke are 7/1 to be relegated from the Premier League this season and should be safe. However, at 5/2 a top half finish will probably be out of reach of reach for the Potters.
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