Can Stoke City sort out their midfield inconsistencies and salvage their season?

On paper, a midfield three of two-time Premier League winner John Obi Mikel, Joe Allen and Sam Clucas leaves the mouth watering. But the reality has been far from that for Stoke City this season.

Michael O’Neill’s side currently sit 10th in the Sky Bet Championship amid a three-year absence from the Premier League, and it looks unlikely they’ll be returning after this campaign.

Relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday, who sit 22nd in the league will travel to Stoke on Tuesday night searching for a much needed three points to lift them out of the danger zone.

The midfield combination of Mikel, Allen and Clucas, which you would imagine is their strongest combination – haven’t won a game together all season.

O’Neill appeared to make a statement on Saturday during their 4-1 defeat to league leaders Norwich – when he substituted Allen and Clucas in the 82nd minute (when already 4-1 down) for Jordan Thompson and Jordan Cousins.

City are without a win in their last 11 games in the Championship – their last one coming in a 1-0 victory against Blackburn on December 19th.

Right-back Nathan Collins has enjoyed a breakout season for Stoke, but looks to be set for a period on the sidelines after being stretchered off in Saturday’s defeat at Carrow Road.

Michael O’Neill commented on the injury post-game:

“I think it was just how he landed. I think it’s possibly a metatarsal injury but it’s too early to say. He was obviously in a lot of pain and hopefully it’s not too serious.”

In place of Collins, O’Neill has the options of Danny Batth or Tommy Smith at full-back and is expected to go with Batth, but both players have similar amounts of minutes played this season.

Thompson and Cousins are in contention to start together in midfield as the manager may look to experiment with his squad to try and find a working formula.

Australian international Harry Souttar recently signed a brand-new contract with will keep him at the bet365 for another four years, and will be likely be partnered with James Chester for the matchup.

Last time out, Wednesday recorded a huge 2-0 win against fellow strugglers and rock-bottom Wycombe Wanderers. The Owls have no injury concerns going into the game, and are in much better form than the hosts.

In the last five games, Stoke’s form has been nothing but underwhelming (DLDDL) compared to Wednesday’s promising LWWLW.

Caretaker manager Neil Thompson is looking forward to a big week ahead for his side, but reiterates that these results will not pan out how the rest of their season will go.

“We have Stoke on Tuesday and Birmingham on Saturday and that’s a game that could be described as a six-pointer but you can only get three points and that has to be our aim for every game we play. What happens this week will not define our season but the remit is simple, to get as many points as we can between now and the rest of the season.”

Prost International’s Joe Lyons will be at the bet365 Stadium on Tuesday night to report on the must-win showdown for both teams.