Tuesday evening, at 20:00, Stoke City (England’s second league) receives Shrewsbury Town, the third-placed team. The game is the replay of England’s Cup 3 tournament after Shrewsbury won a home draw, score 1-1. The hosts led to the end of the match, when Crouch saved a draw for “pots”.
Stoke worries more than the Cup, which is why he used more reserves in the away game. Far from the promotion, Stoke has recently changed his coach and is still looking for the ideal formula, with some very talented players in attack – Tom Ince and Berahino are the best examples. With them in the field, white-reds should have a more accessible mission to the third league.
Without winning 5 matches, Stoke has anonymous Neil Jones from Luton Town, who wants to prove that the Britannia Stadium is not too big for him. Interestingly, Jones has already defeated Shrewsbury this season, from Luton’s bench, score 3-2. Jones’s team came back twice after being led and eventually set off after a spectacular match. Stoke has a good balance against Shrewsbury, in which he lost only once in his own field in 9 games (5 draws). Still, Stoke lost 3 of the last 5 games played against the lower division bands. Trust in the “potters” lot is not high, but we are talking about a home game that would only increase the pressure in the locker room in case of a new failure.
Stoke has only one victory in the last 29 Cup matches played against a lower division team, but this club has an interesting record – escaped goallessly received in 10 Cup matches since 2015, only Chelsea having a better balance ! With Greg Doherty on the field (5 goals in the championship), Shrewsbury will be dangerous on the counter, and Stoke will need the best “11” to force the qualification. In 6 of the last 7 matches played by Shrewsbury in the Cup we scored less than three goals and we can expect another once in a tight game, decided to the limit. Neither the guests are in great shape, having 6 matches in a row without victory.
In the last round of League One, Shrewsbury lost a 0-3 away home in front of Charlton and the band is now in the 18th place. Stoke comes after a 1-3 on Brentford’s field and is only 15th in Championship.
PREDICTION: Stoke to win @ 1.45
