Stoke City are hoping to pull off an FA Cup upset this weekend as they welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to the Bet365 Stadium
Stoke City currently sit 19th in the EFL Championship with seven wins, eight draws and eleven losses from twenty-six games this season.
The Potters have been pretty poor this season relative to expectations coming into the campaign and considering the players at their disposal that’s probably fair.
They’re not outstanding on paper, but they should be much more than the consistently bottom-half side they’ve been trending as for the past year.
Their form is pretty much as you’d expect from a side that have spent almost the whole season in the bottom half of the table having won only two of their last twelve games.
They are, though, unbeaten in their last six games and while that’s not impressive considering the fact they’ve drawn five of those is does at least suggest they’re getting tougher to beat under new boss Stephen Schumacher.
Funnily enough, these two sides met in this competition at this very venue last season, with the Premier League side coming out on top in a 1-0 win.
Stoke have been generally decent in the FA Cup in recent seasons having won four and lost two of their last games.
Since 2019, Stoke have only lost to Premier League sides in the FA Cup and considering the shape they find themselves in coming into this game it feels like they’re set for another defeat here.
Brighton are enjoying another strong campaign under Roberto De Zerbi as they sit 7th in the league table having also topped their Europa League group.
They’ve been utterly ravaged by injuries this year too, so this campaign has arguably thus far been more impressive than the last, despite not being as convincing in a vacuum.
They’re entering this game in mixed form having won two, drawn two and lost one of their last five games, the most recent of which was a 0-0 draw away at West Ham United.
Their form away from home has been a bit of a struggle, with De Zerbi’s side now winless in their last four games on the road.
Brighton have a terrible record away at Stoke, with last season’s 1-0 win their only victory in eighteen visits to the bet365 Stadium.
They are, though, clearly a superior side to Stoke and may want to give this competition a good crack considering their league position is pretty safe.
Last season’s semi-final run was excellent for the club and they’ll likely want to repeat that, and given they’ve only lost once in their last seven ties in this round of the FA Cup they should book their place in the fourth round here.
For our Stoke vs. Brighton prediction, we’re going for a 2-1 win for the away side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.