Bristol City vs Stoke prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-09-29 14:00.
Dogged determination alone wasn’t enough for Bristol City to stop the seemingly irresistible force of Leicester City last weekend as the visitors went down 1-0, with boss Nigel Pearson praising the “collective spirit” of his team in the aftermath despite the outcome. That result did end the Robins’ four-game Championship unbeaten run (W2, D2), but they now look ahead to a clash against arguably weaker opponents, or at least one they’ve beaten in three of the last four H2Hs.
Whilst they might have a good recent overall record against Stoke City, Bristol City have actually only won one of the last five home games against the team from the Potteries (D1, L3), and with only one away victory at any venue recorded by either side in ten meetings, it's not a H2H that’s favoured the hosts on the day in recent years! Yet a return to Ashton Gate should be a positive for City, who are unbeaten in 12 of their last 14 league encounters on their own patch (W6, D6), although with just one clean sheet across their last eight home league matches, they might need to score multiple goals to come out on top.
It’s now five league games without a win for Stoke (D1, L4), with Hull City simply outclassing them 3-1 on Sunday in a big blow to the new-look side. An astonishing 18 players arrived at the bet365 Stadium over the summer as Alex Neil bids to reverse a run of five straight bottom-half finishes for the Potters in England’s second tier. However, halting such a trend looks set to be a challenging task after “the poorest” tactical performance Neil has seen since he took the job in August last year, with that defeat leaving them 20th.
Stoke did at least score their first away goals of the season in their most recent match on their travels as they drew 2-2 with Huddersfield Town, although that result is simply the latest in a rather dire run of seven straight winless Championship road trips (D3, L4). The law of averages suggests that Stoke will win as outsiders at some point, yet their impressive 59% unbeaten rate in such away league games last season is yet to be replicated in 2023/24 (L3).
Players to watch: Both Sam Bell and Mark Sykes have got on the scoresheet in each of Bristol City’s last two league victories. Stoke haven’t enjoyed the pleasure of victory in a while, yet Portuguese forward André Vidigal has scored four goals in their three competitive victories this season.
Hot stat: Two-thirds of Bristol City’s league goals have come after half-time.