Stoke City v Cardiff City
Championship | bet365 Stadium
Saturday, 4 November 2023 @ 3.00pm
Stoke City host Cardiff City at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday on the back of three consecutive wins in the Championship.
Stoke have picked up 12 points from their last six games, and they face a Bluebirds side who have also won their last two matches, and collected 10 points from the last possible 18.
With 23 goals in 14 games so far this season, Cardiff are scoring more than average in the league with 1.6 goals per game. And they are conceding fewer than average, letting in 16 goals at a rate of 1.1 per game.
Stoke, meanwhile, are below average scorers, with 1.1 goals per game, compared to a league average of 1.4. They have conceded 1.3 goals per game.
In the last 10 years, Stoke and Cardiff have played each other on 10 occasions. Stoke won one of them, Cardiff three, and they drew six times.
On average, the Potters scored 1.1 goals and the Bluebirds 1.2 in those matches.
Their last meeting was on April 22, when they played out a 1-1 draw.
In Jak Alnwick, Cardiff City can rely on one of the league's safest pair of hands. He has kept five clean sheets in his 13 appearances this season, and only two other 'keepers – West Bromwich Albion's Alex Palmer and Ipswich Town's Václav Hladký – have been able to prevent the opposition scoring on more occasions in the Championship.
In Stoke City's net, Mark Travers has two clean sheets in 13 games. He has conceded a goal every 65 minutes, 80% more often than the 117 minutes between goals for Alnwick.
The Bluebirds are sixth in the table after 14 games, of which they have won seven and drawn two, earning 23 points.
The Potters are five places behind the visitors in 11th, with six wins and one draw putting them on 19 points.
Stoke's last match was on October 28, a 2-0 win against Middlesbrough, with Mehdi Léris and Michael Rose getting the goals for the Potters.
Cardiff beat Bristol City 2-0 last time out, also on October 28, with Perry Ng and Rubin Colwill on the scoresheet.