Potters Preview

Image © Russ London

It's getting pointless really calling each home game a 'must-win' at this time in the season – the simple fact is that going forwards, anything less than 3 points at home will markedly hinder our chances of getting promotion, playoffs or otherwise.

Stoke are our visitors tonight, and the league position between the two teams only stands to highlight this – a win by 2 goals for us will be enough to leapfrog Stoke, an away win will see them 6 clear of us and automatic promotion dead and buried.

If I took one thing away from my trip back from The Potteries earlier in the season, it's that Stoke are a physical side who don't mess about when it comes to getting stuck in. After the comedown of the home draw to Scunthorpe, the reality of the brutality of this league really set in at the Britannia.

We went a goal up, but an injury to Viewtoakill in the build-up unsettled the back-four. Ricardo Fuller levelled only 2 minutes later, and his replacement Jon Parkin finished the game off minutes after coming on.

Tony Pulis's side have only beaten Preston in the last 5 league matches, sandwiching ties against Newcastle United in the cup. That said, the last side they beat prior to this run was West Brom 3-1, and are the highest scorers in the division behind the leaders.

There's no real reason for Pardew to change the shape much in this outing. Andy Gray will most likely start against Varney, and it will be interesting to see how he will shape up in this role. After losing Todorov, we needed a forward man who can so something a bit different. If he can hold the ball up and release Varney's pace, he could cause the Stoke defence some problems.

I can't go any further without acknowledging the result at Leicester last night – the 1-0 result for Holloway's men gave us a big hand at the foot of the playoff positions, and will leave Palace asking themselves a few questions. Hopefully Southampton can have a new manager in place before the weekend to answer them.

The match at Portman Road between Ipswich and Plymouth is the other tie to keep an eye on tonight. The Tractor Boys are practically unbeatable at home, and Plymouth will also be without David Norris due to transfer speculation.

Call me in for stating the pigging obvious, but a lot more will be clearer come 9:45 tonight. And hopefully I'll be feeling happy about it.