| Tweet |
|
|
Wolves v Stoke City Prediction
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Barclays Premier League
Wolves v Stoke City, 15:00
Author: Thomas Rooney 13/12/2011
Relegation threatened Wolves and a rejuvenated Stoke City side meet at Molineux on Saturday afternoon in what is set to be an extremely competitive Premier League clash.
Referring to Wolves to begin with, it is worth pointing out their rather fragile position in the table at the moment. They sit 17th after 15 games and even though they are two points clear of Wigan in the relegation zone, things can easily change after one round of fixtures.
Members of the bottom three have been showing some fight in recent weeks too. Wigan secured an excellent win at Sunderland, while Blackburn took three points from their home clash with Swansea recently.
Therefore, Mick McCarthy’s men – who narrowly avoided the drop last season – are in a dogfight and need to accumulate as many points as they can before the turn of the year. If they can go into January out of the bottom three, they will be very happy indeed.
If they are to do this, they need to show the same spirit displayed in their last Premier League home game. They trailed Sunderland 1-0 going into the last twenty minutes, but two goals from Steven Fletcher secured three crucial points.
A heavy defeat at Manchester United followed, but this is not where Premier League survival is decided. Instead, it is on home soil against the likes of Stoke City that Wolves need to pick up points.
It will be a tough challenge for the hosts though as Stoke are in excellent form again, recovering from their four straight Premier League losses in extremely impressive fashion.
When Tony Pulis’ men lost at home to Queens Park Rangers in November, there was a sense of panic around the Britannia Stadium about where the team was heading. However, three excellent Premier League victories have followed to go alongside progression in the Europa League.
This resurgence includes the most satisfying win of the season too. On Sunday afternoon, they ran out 2-1 winners at home to Tottenham who came into this fixture on the back of six Premier League wins.
The Potters are now 8th in the table and eyeing a place in the top six as they sit just five points behind Liverpool at the moment. They will not want to get ahead of themselves of course, but things are flowing nicely for them and they will want to make the most of it.
Wolves have found some form at home though – they haven’t lost at Molinuex since the beginning of October – and in Fletcher they have a striker on top of his game. The former Burnley man has scored three goals in his last two games.
Overall, this is going to be a very competitive occasion and one which could be decided by how well the Wolves’ defence handles Stoke’s dangerous set-pieces.
If they learn lessons from Tottenham’s mistakes last weekend, the home side should have enough to secure a score draw.
Match bet: Draw @ 23/10 with Bet365 - (£200 free bets)
Correct score prediction: Wolves 1:1 Stoke City @ 7.4 with Betfair
Watch Thomas Rooney and Pete South discuss the Wolves v Stoke City game below together with their own predictions on the match.