Stoke City V Nottingham Forest
Friday 27th September 2019 – 20:00 Kick-Off
English Championship
Pick: Nottingham Forest to WIN
Odds: 9/4
Bookmaker: Unibet
 |
1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/4 | 23/10 | 11/4 |
* (All betting odds displayed were correct as of 24th September 2019 at 23:25)
Preview: The pair would endure disappointing outings in the English League Cup on Tuesday, with both exiting the competition altogether. A visiting Nottingham Forest would appear a better bet to respond in a positive manner, though Stoke City are in urgent need of points – this will be their ninth attempt at securing a first league win of the season. The Bet365 Stadium is the venue for a match shown live on Sky Sports.
English Championship Betting – 22Bet
Stoke City Preview – Potters to end long wait for maiden victory?
At the time of writing, Nathan Jones was still in charge of first-team affairs at the club. That could all change imminently, however, such is the precarious nature of his tenure at the Stoke City helm. Which is fast approaching untenable if current form does not improve both drastically and sharpish, with Tuesday’s miserable exit from the League Cup at the expense of League Two side Crawley Town only adding to the doom and gloom.
Expected Goals would have us believe that Jones, a former boss at Luton Town before signing on to kick-start a revolution with The Potters that has never left the ground, has been a touch unfortunate during the current campaign. According to Infogol, Stoke should be sat in 17th, as opposed to second-bottom in 23rd (W0 D2 L6, GF7 GA17). Only Huddersfield share their misery in still possessing the unwanted honour of not winning a league game in 2019/20.
Potentially then, this could be last chance saloon. That is merely presumptive, mind, though patience must surely be wearing thin with chairman Peter Coates. A goalless draw at Brentford last time out in the league did stop the rot of sorts, ending a run of four consecutive losses. At home, though, Stoke have been shipping far too many goals (9 – average of 2.25 per game), and would explain why they have only taken one point from a possible twelve at their Bet365 Stadium (D1 L3).
Nottingham Forest Preview – Lamouchi to celebrate another positive outcome?
Not quite at full-strength, Nottingham Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi would nevertheless name several first-team regulars among his starters for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup meeting with Arsenal. Unfortunately for the former Rennes boss, his decision to go strong with his line-up would not have the desired effect as his team were soundly beaten 5-0 by a largely second-string Gunners outfit at The Emirates.
Back to matters in The Championship now for Forest, who will be hoping that midweek thumping hasn’t disrupted their rhythm to any great amount. As this is a team in fine fettle in the league. Last weekend’s 1-0 home success versus Barnsley, which came courtesy of Ben Watson’s first strike of the season, being their second successive win after beating Swansea by the same score the preceding week.
That is not all. It is now seven games unbeaten in the league (W4 D3) in a run that has put them firmly in the promotion picture. The former European Cup winners are up into sixth (W4 D3 L1, GF11 GA6), two points off top spot. Another prosperous outcome would see them make further positive inroads, and the omens are encouraging having not lost on the road thus far (W2 D2, GF5 GA3).
Key to any potential success will likely rest on the performances from attackers Albert Adomah and Lewis Grabban. The pair account for seven of the eleven goals Forest have scored in England’s second tier this season, with the latter an unused sub during the week and thus should be fresher and raring to go here. The 31-year-old has four goals to his name and is 11/2 with Bet365 to open the scoring.
Stoke City V Nottingham Forest Key Facts:
- Stoke remain one of two teams in this season’s Championship still to register a victory (D2 L6).
- Nottingham Forest have surged up the league table on the back of a current seven-match unbeaten run (W4 D3).
- Last season’s corresponding meeting finished 2-0 in favour of Stoke, who would earn a 0-0 draw in the away encounter.
Betting Summary
These are bleak times at Stoke City. I was going to describe them as being in free-fall but, with them already occupying second-from-bottom in The Championship, there isn’t much scope for them to fall any further. Drawing 0-0 at Brentford in their latest league outing was credible and something from which to possibly build on, but bowing out of the Carabao Cup to Crawley has scuppered some of that restrained positivity.
What an opportunity this is for Nottingham Forest to extend their excellent unbeaten run in the league, which stands at seven (W4 D3) prior to this fixture, and continue an ascent up the table. Yet to lose on their travels in 2019-20 (W2 D2), even toppling then-league leaders Swansea 1-0 on their latest away venture. They would follow that up with another 1-0 success last weekend, at home to Barnsley, and are now chasing a third win on the trot here.
Even taking that emphatic, potentially morale-sapping 5-0 loss to Arsenal’s reserves into account, it is not easy looking past an in-form Forest team who have not tasted defeat in the league since the first week of the season. Somehow, though, Stoke – winless and hapless Stoke – are favourites?! The visitors look good value DrawNoBet (6/5 with Betfair).
