Stoke City vs Brighton & Hove Albion. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats and more
Stoke City FC will host Brighton & Hove Albion FC in the Emirates FA Cup 1/8 final match at the Britannia Stadium. The fixture will take place on Wednesday, February 29, beginning at 00:45 IST.
With their recent struggles in the Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion will likely opt to fight tooth and nail for the FA Cup. While they currently sit in a respectable 7th place in the league table, their form has been inconsistent, and they will be keen to prove their worth in one of the oldest and most prestigious cups in the world. The FA Cup may offer the Blue and Whites the chance to salvage their season and give their fans something to celebrate. They will be keen to seize this opportunity with a burning desire to make a statement in the Round of 16.
The Seagulls are facing a rather interesting opposition, the team that once was a regular staple of the English Premier League. Stoke City, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest football clubs in the world, representing an authentic and distinctive English football tradition. Despite not always being the most exciting team to watch, the club has a loyal fan base that takes great pride in its history. While their current position in the EFL Championship is far from ideal, the Potters will be looking to draw on their experience and determination to progress as far as possible in the FA Cup. Winning the trophy may be a long shot, but anything can happen in football, and Stoke City will be ready to give it their all on the pitch.
Both teams have something to prove on the day. What can we expect this Wednesday night? Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.
Stoke City News & Current Form:
Stoke City’s busy schedule continues with a third straight game in a week, which will test the strength of the team as one of the seven representatives of the English Football League remaining in the FA Cup 1/8 finals. Tonight’s hosts could break through to the quarterfinals of this tournament for the first time since the 2011/12 season.
In the country’s second strongest competition, the Potters have amassed 11 wins and seven truces after 34 rounds, that’s 40 points and 17th place in the table. This season, the home team has no playoff contention and no shot at qualifying for the EPL.
The team is fighting as hard as it can. They even beat Huddersfield Town FC (3 – 0) and Swansea City AFC (3 – 1), but the number of situations with the loss of points is much greater. For example, in mid-February, Stoke City were defeated by Blackpool FC (0 – 1) and also lost to one of the leaders of the tournament Millwall FC (0 – 1). In the FA Cup, the club passed the humble Hartlepool United FC (3 – 0) and Stevenage FC (3 – 1). So the match against Brighton will be the first serious test.
A dozen years ago, the club was a strong mid-table side in the Premier League with an interesting squad that had plenty of big names. In 2011, the Potters confirmed their class by reaching the cup final for the first time in their history under Tony Pulis in 2010-11. But they eventually lost 1 – 0 to Manchester City FC with Roberto Mancini in charge. A late strike from Yaya Toure proved to be decisive at Wembley that day.
But then there was a sharp decline, moreover, there was never a serious bid for a return back to the elite. Last season, for example, the team finished 15th which is below the table equator. Now the results are even more modest, with Alex Neil’s side essentially holding their own at the bottom of the second ten.
The Potters are averaging 1.2 xG per game while 1.07 is allowed. At the same time, they have often suffered due to mediocre goalie play, who have conceded 9 more goals than expected according to the xGOT metric. Matija Šarkić, who came in the winter transfer window, won the competition with confidence and became the main goalkeeper.
Stoke will be without Nick Powell because of a serious knee injury. However, Josh Tymon has recovered from his ankle injury and appeared in the second half of the match against Millwall at the weekend, and the left-back could be in the starting lineup as he looks for his former conditioning.
The club announced the transfer of Manchester United FC defender Axel Tuanzebe. Stoke have leased the 25-year-old Englishman until the end of the season. Tuanzebe has not played a single match this season, in the previous season he played on loan for Aston Villa FC and SSC Napoli. However, his foot problem makes his participation questionable.
Brighton News & Current Form:
The team has sold leading players again this season, both in the summer and even in January, when Leandro Trossard left. Moreover, at the beginning of the fall, Chelsea FC persuaded Graham Potter to change the club . But in doing so, they seem to have hit the top ten, inviting the Englishman Roberto De Zerbi to replace him. The Italian quickly adapted to the Foggy Albion and effectively rebuilt the club’s game. As a result, by the end of the winter it was even possible to break into the ranks of the Euro Cup contenders.
Brighton are having an excellent season, the club is located on the 8th line in the standings, 6 points behind the UEFA Europa League zone with 1 game to spare. The team plays attractive, attacking soccer. On average the Seagulls create 1.64 xG per game with an allowed 1.2.
The final 2 rounds in the English Premier League against Fulham FC (0 – 1) and Crystal Palace FC (1 – 1) should not be misleading, as in them the club significantly outclassed their opponents in terms of xG. Albion have had a recent loss of points in the EPL, but the team is having a pretty good season and is ranked 8th in the top division table for its services.
Brighton missed out on Middlesbrough FC in their cup journey, defeating their opponent (5 – 1). After that the visitors made a very significant step on the way to the final rounds, beating the winner of the previous draw Liverpool FC (2 – 1).
The Seagulls have never won the FA Cup trophy, but they made it to the final: In 1982/83 they beat Manchester United 4-0 in the decisive match. In the last year’s tournament, Brighton went out in the 1/16 finals round, losing to Tottenham Hotspur FC (1-3).
Brighton will travel to Stoke without midfielders Adam Lallana and Jakub Moder, who are unlikely to play again this season due to serious hamstring and knee injuries respectively. Danny Welbeck (ankle) and Levi Colwill (muscle) are also unlikely to participate in the game as they try to recover from smaller problems, and Pervis Estupinan will rest after he was injured in the last match against Fulham.
FIFA World Cup winner Alexis MacAllister about how his life changed after such an accomplishment:
“Winning the World Cup gave me confidence on the field. Even my opponents see me differently. It was amazing. When you play, you get recognized more and people pay more attention. And I know we did something special. Everyone in Argentina will remember us as world champions.”
Alexis MacAllister of the Argentina national football team kissing the World Cup trophy in celebration of their championship victory
Alexis MacAllister of the Argentina national football team kissing the World Cup trophy in celebration of their championship victory
“After winning the World Cup the first thing I said was: Now comes the hardest part of football. We won the World Cup, and that was the hardest thing for us, and now we need something else to get motivated.”
“But I like playing football. Of course I want to win trophies, but that’s not the most important thing. The most important thing for me is to be on the field every weekend, and I actually enjoy it. I don’t need to motivate myself with anything else.”
Stoke City form guide: L-D-W-L-W-L
Brighton form guide: W-D-W-W-D-L
Stoke City vs Brighton Head-To-Head Record:
| Stoke City | Draw | Brighton |
| 9 | 16 | 16 |
- December 17, 2004: Brighton 0 – 1 Stoke City (League Championship);
- March 5, 2005: Stoke City 2 – 0 Brighton (League Championship);
- November 5, 2005: Stoke City 3 – 0 Brighton (League Championship);
- April 20, 2006: Brighton 1 – 5 Stoke City (League Championship);
- February 19, 2011: Stoke City 3 – 0 Brighton (FA Cup);
- November 20, 2017: Brighton 2 – 2 Stoke City (Premier League);
- February 10, 2018: Stoke City 1 – 1 Brighton (Premier League).
Stoke City vs Brighton Predicted XI:
Stoke City’s possible starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Sarkic; Sterling, Wilmot, Jagielka, Tymon; Thompson, Baker, Clucas; Brown, Gayle, Celina.
Brighton possible starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Steele; Veltman, Dunk, Webster; Lamptey, Caicedo, Gross, March; Sarmiento, Mitoma; Ferguson.
Statistical preview of the match Stoke City vs Brighton:
- Stoke’s First XI average age is 28.3 yrs.
- Brighton’s First XI average age is 27.0 yrs.
- Brighton are unbeaten in 7 of their last 9 matches.
- Stoke City are unbeaten in their last 10 games against this opponent.
- Over their last 5 games, Brighton are conceding an average of 1.00 goals per game.
- Brighton are scoring an average of 1.20 goals per game in their last 5 games.
- Brighton have scored in 13 of their last 15 games.
- Stoke City conceded an average of 0.60 goals per game in their last 5 games.
- Stoke City are scoring an average of 1.20 goals per game in their last 5 games.
- Stoke City are conceding in their last 3 games.
- Stoke City are scoring in their last 10 games against this opponent.
- Stoke City have scored in regular time in 13 of their last 16 home matches in the FA Cup.
- Brighton have conceded in regular time in their last 9 away matches in the FA Cup.
- Stoke City have won 4 of the 5 previous matches in the FA Cup , and in all 5 of them players scored.
What has been said before the match:
Alex Neil, Stoke’s coach, ahead of the game against Brighton:
“I know they’re eighth in the league at the moment but if you go off stats, they’re a top six team in the Premier League at the moment. I’ve watched a lot of them. I’ve watched them against Liverpool, Arsenal, Middlesbrough, and Fulham. They didn’t deserve to lose to Fulham.“
“They’ve beaten Liverpool twice, they were really unfortunate against Arsenal and they beat Middlesbrough 5-1. That shows the enormity of the game for us in terms of when they are. I’ve prepared for a lot of teams, Liverpool and Man City before but I would say these are as difficult to prepare for as I’ve come across.“
“Tactically you can see the coach is excellent, one of the best. It’s going to be a tough game for us. It’ll be very different from games that we’ve already faced, Saturday’s game for us was something I’ve seen I don’t know how many times this season where we’ve ended up with 72% possession, double figures with shots. This game is certainly not going to be like that.”
“All credit to them they’re an extremely good side and whether it’s Brighton, Liverpool or Man City, it’s a great opportunity for us to pitch ourselves against some of the top players.”
Coach Roberto De Zerbi was slapped with a red card after a game against Fulham a week ago:
“I don’t know the situation. We will see in the next few days. For me, the argument is closed, I spoke with journalists after the game. I don’t want to speak too much because I don’t like to speak about referees or the decisions of referees.”
“It’s alleged that the manager’s behaviour on the pitch at full time was improper and that his behaviour and/or language towards a match official in the tunnel afterwards was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper. Roberto De Zerbi has until Monday, February 27, to provide a response,”
was said in the official statement.
“It’s a difficult game. We have to speak about a difficult game. For us, the FA Cup is very important. Tomorrow isn’t a big game, it’s a crucial game because we want to play at Wembley. Okay, there will be another game if we win tomorrow, but we have to stay focussed on Stoke. We want to win, the last victory was three weeks ago so we want to get the result and play well.”
“I love it here [in Brighton]. I am still one of the youngest coaches in the league. I need to have energy and passion to improve every day.”
Stoke City vs Brighton Prediction:
The status of the encounter and the cost of a mistake in such a game could well give both teams a chance. This game will be defined by how well the opponents destroy attacks of the opposition. Most likely, the scenario will be that everything will be decided by one mistake, we are unlikely to see many goals.
The visitors have a higher class and level of players, while the Potters have the support of the stands and tremendous tournament motivation. It is unlikely that the Seagulls will lose, but Alex Neil’s men can cause a lot of bloodshed for the visitors, playing very tenacious defensive football.
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Parimatch News staff prediction:
We say: Brighton will not lose and the match total will be less than 3.5 – Yes.