Championship 
Stoke City are scheduled to welcome Sheffield Wednesday to the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon, as both teams are seeking a crucial victory at the foot of the Championship table.
Following a dip in form in recent weeks, Stoke now find themselves in 20th place in the table, having amassed 21 points from their opening 19 league outings. This has come following 6 wins, 3 draws and 10 defeats.
The hosts come into this weekend’s match on the back of a terrible run of form which has seen the Potters go five games without a win and record three consecutive losses. In their last three outings, Stoke have recorded 3-0, 4-2 and 2-1 losses to Blackburn, QPR and Plymouth respectively.
After a miserable start to their season, Sheffield currently find themselves at the foot of the Championship table after picking up just 10 points from their 19 league games so far this season.
The Owls’ form has seemingly picked up in recent weeks, with Danny Rohl’s side having won two and drawn one of their last six league outings, a stark improvement in their form since the start of the campaign.
Last time out, the Owls recorded just their second league victory of the campaign as they pulled off a shock victory over Blackburn. The Owls took an early lead through Bailey-Tye Cadamarteri's maiden senior goal, before Blackburn responded swiftly through Sammie Szmodics.
After a tense second half, Sheffield Wednesday retook the lead in the 72nd minute when Lee Gregory tapped home from close range. Josh Windass sealed the win for the Owls in the 88th minute, latching onto a through ball from Barry Bannan and slotting home past the Blackburn goalkeeper.
The fixture of Stoke vs Sheffield Wednesday has a long and storied history with the two sides having first met in 1892. In total, the two sides have met on 97 occasions, with Sheffield having won 38, Stoke having won 35 and there having been 24 draws.
This fixture's recent history has been dominated by Stoke. The Potters have only lost one of the last eight meetings between the two sides. In recent years, this fixture has produced uninspiring games, with only one of the last five games having more than one goal.
Stoke recorded a slender victory when these two sides last met in the Championship in February 2021. Steven Fletcher, the former Sheffield Wednesday striker, scored the only goal of the game in the 71st minute with a cool finish from close range. Sheffield Wednesday were well-organised at the back but never really threatened to go on and win the game.
Despite their recent dip in form, it is Stoke that come into this game as heavy favourites and they are currently priced @ 21/20, whilst an away win for Sheffield is currently @ 13/5 and a draw is @ 12/5.
We are backing Stoke to win and under 2.5 goals in the game. Sheffield have the worst goalscoring record in the league, having netted just 12 goals in their 19 games. We believe that this paired with the fact that this is historically a low scoring game is likely to suggest under 2.5 goals.