Premier League Preview: Stoke City vs. Blackpool
Stoke City are looking to take on Blackpool at home, in what is scheduled to be thrilling encounter for a battle in the mid-table of Premier League. Blackpool is the fresher team of the two teams, after spending whole of the last weekend
without playing a game, due to their match with Manchester United being delayed due to bad weather.
Stoke's boss Tony Pulis, has an array of options for the game as winger Jermaine Pennat and side back, Andy Wilkinson are both set to make a return to the side after having recovered from their respective hamstring and knee injuries. The
teams pivot in the centre of the pitch, Marc Wilson is also set to be back in contention for the game, after he successfully served out his one match ban. However on the down side, it seems like striker Mamady Sidibe is still going to miss this game, as the
player hasn't recovered from his Achilles injury.
Blackpool apart from being fresh also happen to have almost no injury worries. Ludovic Sylvestre is set to make his comeback from his hamstring strain, while Alex Baptiste is on the fast track to recovering from his troublesome knee problem.
However Matt Gilks, Chris Basham and Billy Clarke are still going to miss this game due to a knee injury that all three of them seemed to have picked up. Also the team’s star striker Marlon Herwood is set to miss the game as his hamstring seems to be refusing
to heal itself.
Experts are inclining towards Blackpool picking a win in the game. This is mainly due to the fact that Blackpool is a lot fresher then Stoke and have far less injuries on their squad. However if Stoke can manage to use their superior defence
to keep out the constant Blackpool attack, then they might just be able to pick up all three points. Nonetheless with both the team's looking to have just about the same quality as the other, the odds of the match ending in a draw are also quite high.
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