Match Pack: Stoke vs Saints
Southampton are back on the road this weekend, swapping the south coast derby for a trip to Stoke in the Championship. Here's everything you need to know ahead of Saturday's showdown...
THE MATCH
Stoke City vs Southampton
Sky Bet Championship
bet365 Stadium
Saturday 31st January, 12.30pm GMT
THE OFFICIALS
Referee: Farai Hallam
Assistants: Andrew Fox, Richard Woodward
Fourth official: Leigh Doughty
THE KITS
Stoke will be in their traditional red and white stripes, meaning Saints will swap to their yellow and blue stripes for the trip to Staffordshire.
TICKETS
Only a limited number of the allocated 3,009 tickets remain, for those wishing to make the trip.
LIVE COVERAGE
The game will be screened live on Sky Sports Football with coverage starting from 11am GMT. Saints Play match passes are available in unsold territories.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
After a positive week last week, Saints will want to continue to build momentum against an out of sorts Stoke.
Victory over Sheffield United halted a run of seven league games without a win, backed up with a point in the south coast derby at Fratton Park last Sunday.
Mark Robins's side have suffered a slide down the standings having been league leaders when they left St Mary's with all three points in August, now without a win in three and down to 10th in the table.
With both sides holding play-off ambitions, Saturday provides an opportunity to make a statement for the remainder of the campaign.
TEAM NEWS
Stoke: The Potters were without 12 players against Birmingham last weekend, but could be boosted by some important returns.
Bosun Lawal is available after serving a one-match suspension, while Ben Gibson and Ben Wilmot have both been declared fit after recent injuries.
New signing Milan Smit could make his debut upfront, although goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, on loan from Saints, is both injured and ineligible.
Saints: Tonda Eckert confirmed Leo Scienza is doing "everything possible" to be fit to face Stoke, having limped off at Portsmouth last weekend.
Elsewhere, Mads Roerslev is set to feature for the Under-21s on Friday night as he steps up his return, with no other fresh injury concerns to contend with.
THE MANAGERS
Mark Robins: "We’re going to pick up soft tissue injuries now because I can’t rotate, I can’t make changes, I can’t freshen it up.
"We’ve just got to take that on the chin, hopefully we won’t pick too many up, we can get people back and attack this week."
Tonda Eckert: “It's a pragmatic team, but I don't intend to say that in a negative way. I think they are pragmatic in a very positive way. They have a couple of injuries but I think a couple of them will come back.
"I think we need to use some moments to play off their pressure, control them on transitions and for Stoke normally they are low scoring games. There's not a lot of goals in both ends, so it might be one of the games where one goal will need to be enough for us to bring that one over the line."
ONES TO WATCH
Sorba Thomas: The Wales international has been Stoke's standout performer this season, boasting 16 goal contributions across all competitions.
The winger scored the winner at St Mary's back in August and will be looking to do the same again at the bet365 Stadium.
Leo Scienza: Tonda Eckert is positive that the Brazilian will be involved at the weekend, which would be a welcome boost after an impressive week last week.
Scoring in back-to-back games against Sheffield United and Portsmouth, Scienza would head to Stoke full of confidence to go up against an injury-hit Stoke side.
TOP SCORERS
Stoke
Goals:
Thomas 9
Mubama, Manhoef 5
Baker 4
Assists:
Thomas 7
Bae, Cresswell 3
Manhoef, Cissé 2
Saints
Goals:
Armstrong 11
Azaz 7
Scienza 5
Assists:
Armstrong, Azaz, Scienza, Fellows 4
Manning 3
Harwood-Bellis 2
FORM GUIDE
Stoke
Birmingham (a) SBC: D 1-1 (Neumann OG)
Middlesbrough (h) SBC: L 1-2 (Rigo)
QPR (h) SBC: D 0-0
Coventry (h) FAC3: W 1-0 (Cissé)
Norwich (a) SBC: W 2-0 (Gallagher, Thomas)
Saints
Portsmouth (a) SBC: D 1-1 (Scienza)
Sheff Utd (h) SBC: W 1-0 (Scienza)
Hull (h) SBC: L 1-2 (Stewart)
Doncaster (a) FAC3: W 3-2 (Bragg, Archer, Matsuki)
Middlesbrough (a) SBC: L 0-4
HEAD TO HEAD
Played: 83
Stoke wins: 32
Draws: 15
Stoke wins: 36
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
Aug 2025: Saints 1-2 Stoke Championship (Harwood-Bellis)
Oct 2024: Saints 3-2 Stoke Carabao Cup fourth round (Harwood-Bellis, A Armstrong, Bree)
Apr 2024: Saints 0-1 Stoke Championship
Oct 2023: Stoke 0-1 Saints Championship (S Armstrong)
Mar 2018: Saints 0-0 Stoke Premier League
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