Stoke City v Newcastle United: team news and match preview

    


TEAM NEWS

Stoke midfielder Jonathan Walters will have a late fitness test on a calf problem that has sidelined him for the last two weeks.

Stephen Ireland is set to return to league action after making his injury comeback in the League Cup in midweek.

Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse is fit again after recovering from illness that kept him out of the Capital One Cup win at Crystal Palace.

Midfielder Mehdi Abeid is suspended after being sent off in that match.
MATCH PREVIEW

It says a lot about the Premier League these days that the main talking point ahead of this game is centred upon comments uttered outside a London pub.

Mike Ashley's representatives insist that Newcastle's owner was speaking with tongue firmly in cheek when he told a newspaper reporter that Alan Pardew had one game left to save his job:  "If we lose against Stoke on Monday night he's gone. I've had enough."
Lawro's prediction

"Stoke will be miffed that they did not come away with a win from Loftus Road last week after leading QPR twice. The Potters have been better on the road this season, losing to Aston Villa and Leicester at the Britannia Stadium."

Read Lawro's full prediction

Rest assured - regardless of what club you are at - any manager rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table at the beginning of October will find themselves under intense scrutiny.

Many Newcastle fans have been vocal with their "Pardew Out" campaign. It's difficult to tell how much Mike Ashley is swayed by public opinion. The owner has never seemed overly concerned with winning any popularity contests on Tyneside.

Having given his manager a long-term contract , Ashley's business model so far has been to encourage Graham Carr's foreign recruitments and blood these players in the Premier League before selling on at a sizeable profit.

Using Yohan Cabaye as the best example - bought from Lille for just over £4m and sold to Paris Saint Germain for just short of £20m - from a business point of view, you can argue that Pardew's tenure has been a balance-sheet success.

It's not the definition of success to which Newcastle fans aspire, but Ashley's entrepreneurial background ensures he will always have at least one eye on the cashflow.

Obviously what Newcastle cannot afford is relegation from the top flight. The strategy of attracting promising, yet affordable, players to St James' Park will suffer without the enticement of the bright lights of the Premier League.

For many years, Stoke City's survival in the Premier League has been built upon the foundations of solid home form. But in the early stages of this campaign Mark Hughes' team have not yet developed a rhythm.

Last season Stoke lost only three Premier League games at the Britannia Stadium. In this campaign, their two home games so far have resulted in two defeats.

However, the away win at Manchester City that came in between confirms that Stoke's abilities to compete with the league's best is not just "pub-talk".
MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

    The clubs have met 10 times in the Premier League - each side has won four each, with two draws.
    Stoke have won three of their last four Barclays Premier League home games against Newcastle.
    Newcastle have only managed one win at the Britannia Stadium in the Premier League. That came - on a Monday evening - courtesy of a Demba Ba hat-trick in a 3-1 win in October 2011.

Stoke City

    Stoke have lost both of their home league games so far, and are yet to even find the net at the Britannia Stadium, making them the only team without a home goal in this season's Premier League.
    The Potters' home record last season would have put them in the top six. They only lost three Premier League home games in the whole of last season; they have already lost two there in this campaign.
    Stoke have allowed their opponents just 11 shots on target, fewer than any other team in the Premier League.
    After 10 Premier League appearances without a goal or assist, Peter Crouch both scored & assisted against QPR last time out.
    Stoke's last three Premier League games on a Monday have ended 1-1

Newcastle United

    Newcastle are yet to win in the Premier League this season.
    Alan Pardew's side have conceded two or more goals in 10 of their last 13 league games.
    Papiss Cisse has scored in four of his last five matches against Stoke.
    Newcastle have lost their last four Premier League games on a Monday, conceding 12 goals in the process.