Stoke City will look to bounce back with a victory when they host in-form Huddersfield Town at the Bet365 Stadium in the EFL Championship. Both teams are on 10 points and Huddersfield just sit a place above Stoke who are fifth in the league table. With three wins, one draw and one loss each, this could be the biggest fixture of the Championship weekend.
Stoke come into this match after a 3-0 loss away at leaders Fulham before the international break. The Potters had a decent start to the season with three wins and a draw. Passing has been the key for Stoke this season. The team has managed to provide 23 key passes and in addition to this they have added a decent number of smart passes and through balls. These passes have allowed them to take 94 touches in the opposition penalty area.
Stokes players have shown their aerial dominance by having the highest win % when it comes to aerial duels. Harry Souttar and Ben Wilmot have been their most dominant players in the air.
The Potters have contested the least number of offensive duels in the league. Sam Clucas, Steven Fletcher and Jacob Brown have played in a partnership of two up-front and each player has featured in all the five matches. They have just managed to score two goals in total.
Top-scorer Nick Powell could return back to the line-up after missing two league matches due to injury. He has already scored two goals and even assisted in the three games played. Right-wing back Tommy Smith is another threat with his deliveries. The former Huddersfield player has already provided three assists this season.
Huddersfield will look to take advantage of Stokes’s defeat and extend their three-match winning streak. The Terriers have scored nine goals out of which one was an own goal. Four goals have been scored from set-pieces and team heavily relies on these opportunities. Huddersfield defenders have been impressive as they have bagged four goals in the process.
In the above viz we can see that Huddersfield players have attempted only 170 passes into the opposition final third. Their forward passes attempts are also very low. This further justifies why they rely on set-pieces.
The defensive duels win rate is also very less when 17.2% which is very low when compared to the other top teams. Players have been poor in making recoveries and sit at bottom of the table with 312 recoveries.
Sorba Thomas is the joint top assist provider this season with four already to his name. The youngster even has a goal to his name. Defender Matthew Pearson has already scored two goals this season along with his defensive partners Sarr and Colwill.
Stoke City can take advantage of the home situation and win this match. They have better ranking in different statistics than Huddersfield this season. Both lost to Fulham and this could be a match that they both don’t want to loose.
