Coventry vs Stoke prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-11-10 15:00.
Coventry City’s four-year return to the Championship is threatening to come to an end as a 12th consecutive H2H league defeat to Preston North End (3-2) extended their losing Championship run to for successive matches, leaving them perilously close to the relegation zone ahead of round 16.
Head coach Mark Robins has been in this situation before, as he helped Coventry secure Championship survival in 2020/21 despite the team having collected fewer points (14) than they have accumulated now (15) after the same number of matches. They also went on to achieve a remarkable fifth-place finish last season in spite of losing their opening four matches. This resilience demonstrated in parts of Robins’ tenure may raise hopes that they can shake off this early season wobble, particularly at home where they haven’t lost to any side starting the round outside the top six (W2, D4).
Stoke City are precisely where Coventry would love to be in a month’s time, collecting points regularly and defending valiantly. Stoke’s four-game Championship streak is an unbeaten one rather than a winless one (W3, D1), with their three consecutive clean sheets a significant improvement on the solitary one they had collected all Championship season prior to that.
They were just five points off the top six heading into this round after a scoreless draw at home to Cardiff, which head coach Alex Neil described as “the type of game last year we would have lost”. Coming up is a very crucial opportunity to convert their momentum into something special, with their next four league games featuring three away trips to clubs in the bottom six heading into this round, which were also the kind of games they failed to win on a regular basis last season, when they won just one of their away games against the sides to finish in the bottom six (W1, D3, L2).
Players to watch: Haji Wright has now contributed Coventry’s last three Championship goals (excluding own goals) following his double at Preston, while Mehdi Léris was on the scoresheet before half-time in Stoke’s last two Championship away victories.
Hot stat: Stoke’s recent Championship win at Middlesbrough (W2-0) is their only away match of the season where they scored first.