Reaction required from the Potters as they host plummeting Preston

Stoke City face Preston North End for the 100^th time in the league on Saturday as both sides require a reaction to previous embarrassments in the second tier.

Since the middle of March, the Potters recorded three successive clean sheets as well as seven points from a possible nine against Cardiff City, Derby County and Bristol City, but sacrificed their play-off ambitions after losing to Millwall and Birmingham City in their previous two outings.

But a mid-table finish now looks inevitable for Michael O’Neill’s men and their most recent result played a huge factor in that.

Lee Bowyer’s Blues turned over the Potters 2-0 courtesy of a Lukas Jutkiewicz brace. It was the striker’s fourth and fifth goal of the campaign which sunk Stoke’s outside hopes of promotion via the play-offs. O’Neill’s side are now 12^th in the division and 16 points away from sixth placed Bournemouth.

Likewise for Preston, they’re aiming for a mid-table finish but currently occupy 16^th place.

Although the circumstances at Deepdale have taken a drastic turn this season, PNE will look to finish their season on a high.

They must bounce back from their 5-0 pummelling to Brentford last week. The Bees’ front-line were back firing, with league top scorer Ivan Toney, Sergi Canos and Bryan Mbeumo all among the goal involvements.

To Preston’s preference, they’ll be playing away from Lancashire this game week. Based on home form, Preston are 22^nd in the division this season. They’ve collected just 20 points from 21 games at Deepdale this campaign.

They’ll look to make it successive victories on the road as their most recent away game was a 1-0 win over promotion pushers Swansea City.

The Lilywhites parted company with manager Alex Neil last month after a shambolic run of performances and appointed Frankie McAvoy as interim manager until the end of 2020/21.

The visitors are positioned comfortably in the table and McAvoy has hardly anything to lose. The 47-year-old will be keen to finish the season convincingly as games against relegation contenders Derby and Coventry are pending. A victory against Stoke City would be the catalyst for a last push this season.

McAvoy is convinced his side will provide a response after last weekend’s humiliation:

“We have got a young, hungry group in there, with a bit of experience that have been in the Championship for a number of years and are desperate to do well in these remaining five games.

“That’s what I am focusing on and hopefully we will get the best out of them on Saturday.

“They give us everything in training and when they give their all, you can’t ask any more of that.

“We are hurting from the result last weekend, but time is a healer and we will dust ourselves down and we have a chance on Saturday to go and rectify that and hopefully it is not a chance missed.”

Between the two sides, there have been 106 meetings in all competitions. The Potters have have won just 36 times, while PNE have been the more victorious on 48 occasions. Nonetheless, Stoke beat Preston 1-0 in the reverse fixture courtesy of Lee Gregory earlier on this season and will look to do the double at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt

[columns][column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”609″ heading=”EFL” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column][column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1139″ heading=”Championship” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]