After almost 25 years away from the top flight following their relegation from Division One at the end of the 1984/85 season Stoke City secured their place in the Premier League at the start of the 2008/09 and have established themselves as a top flight regular team by this stage. Their seven seasons in the EPL have seen them finish no lower than 14th and their last two campaigns have seen ninth placed finishes under former Wales and Manchester City boss Mark Hughes, but can the Welshman see them into the top ten for another season this time around?
Last Season:
54 points and the best defensive record outside of the top seven teams in the league, including having conceded fewer goals than Tottenham and Liverpool in fifth and sixth, on their way to a second successive ninth placed finish during the 2014/15 season provides Mark Hughes and his squad a fine platform to attack the upcoming season. Stoke have been a mid-table side throughout their tenure in the EPL and, but with them ending their season with just single loss in their final seven matches and scoring two, three and six goals as they defeated Southampton, Tottenham and Liverpool in three of their last four home games they will be confident of breaking towards the European spots this season.
2015/16 EPL Preview:
What do Stoke need to do this season to improve their Premier League finishing position? Consistency would be a start as losses at the Britannia Stadium to Aston Villa and Leicester in their opening two home matches as well as defeat to Burnley on home soil in November need to be sorted out. These nine points alone would have put them in Europe for this season and their away form needs a massive change too, as they secured just five away wins all season long.
Mark Hughes has brought in some exciting additions to the squad over the summer while clearing out a number of unwanted players, so he, the team and the fans will be excited for the upcoming season. Will it pay off for them though?
Ins and Outs:
Joselu – Despite being just 25 years old the German born Spanish striker has already played five different clubs in Spain and Germany in his career before arriving in the Premier League. He began at Celta Vigo and moved to Real Madrid in 2009, where he netted 40 goals in 72 matches for the ‘B’ team as well as two goals in two appearances for the first team before moving to the Bundesliga in 2012. He played for Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt and Hannover 96 over three seasons, scoring 29 times in 100 games, before bringing his keen eye for goal and prodigious talent to the EPL for this 2015/16 season.
Jakob Haugaard – Although the 23 year old Danish goalkeeper has made just 47 appearances, with more than half coming last season, in his homeland Mark Hughes has brought the talented young shot stopper in from FC Midtjylland where Haugaard lifted the Danish title last season. He boosts Stoke’s fine array of goalkeeping talent with Bosnian Asmir Begovic and England U-21 star Jack Butland also on the books.
Philipp Wollscheid – The 26 year old German has made his loan spell at the club a permanent move this summer as the club took up the option they had on him. He played 14 times for the club at the start of 2015 after his loan move from Bayer Leverkusen and with his performances in the EPL earning much praise from Mark Hughes he was snapped up by Stoke this summer on a three year contract.
There have been some big names exiting through the doors of the Britannia Stadium this summer with big named players Wilson Palacios, Thomas Sorenson and Andy Wilkinson all leaving following the expiry of their contracts along with nine players from the U21 team. As well as this German international defender Robert Huth has also made his loan at Leicester City permanent as he signed a three year deal with Stoke’s local rivals.
Stoke EPL Preview Bets:
With Stoke having never finished higher than ninth in the Premier League the bookmakers believe that they side will again finish mid-table and this ensures that there is plenty of value to be had on the Premier League betting markets. We are taking a look at a few of the best markets with online bookmaker Bet365.com.
Stoke are the outsiders with Bet365 in both the ‘to win the title’ and ‘to be relegated’ markets at odds of 1001.00 and 13.00 respectively, but there is certainly better value to be found on other markets. They can be backed at even money (2.00) to finish in the top ten of the EPL for a third successive season and 9.00 to win the Premier League title without the big six of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester’s United and City, Tottenham and Liverpool. They are behind Southampton, Everton, Swansea and West Ham in the latter of these two markets though.
If you see them vastly improving and reaching the top six in the league, something that is not beyond the possibility if they can record an extra two or three wins at home and away this season, then Stoke can be backed for a top six finish at odds of 13.00 in the Bet 365 Sportsbook.
The final market we found for Mark Hughes’ men is to be the best of the Midlands sides where they must beat West Brom, Aston Villa and Leicester. They are priced as the favourites at odds of 1.91 to win this foursome.
Of all these bets we feel that the even money price for another top ten finish is the least risky of all of these markets and is certainly something that we feel offers a nice payout despite the league looking to be a lot closer and tighter than last season. If you’re after something riskier then we suggest Stoke to bag a top six finish, especially if they continue to buy well and with rumours of Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri having being bid for there is much to be optimistic about, so our big bet is a top ten finish for Stoke with a small side bet on a top six for the Midlanders at odds of 2.00 and 13.00 with Bet365.com.