Premier League Season Preview: Stoke City
With the Premier League season now rapidly approaching, I have decided to take a look at each of the 20 sides that will be playing at the top level of English football during this upcoming season.
To start off my countdown, I have decided to actually go in reverse order, with Wolverhampton starting off the list and Arsenal concluding it right before the start of the Premier League season.
In the seventh part of this series, I will look at Stoke City, who finished 11th in the Premier League last season as they were able to get some solid results away from the Britannia Stadium to escalate their standing in the league.
Review of Last Year
Last year, Stoke City showed that they truly are a strong mid-table club by constantly putting together solid results against sides that are their equal.
Stoke were able to achieve points against the likes of Everton (twice), Liverpool, Manchester City, and Aston Villa as they finished 11th in their second consecutive season in the top flight.
Transfers:
Incoming Players:
Florent Cuvelier (Portsmouth)
Departing Players:
Nathaniel Wedderburn (Northampton Town), Andy Griffin (Reading), Steve Simonsen (Sheffield United), Diego Arismendi (Barnsley) and Ibrahima Sonko (Portsmouth).
All times are GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
Major Questions Going into This Season:
1. How dominant will Stoke City be at home?
Last year, Stoke were able to go 7-6-6 at home, which was a major reason why the Potters were able to do so well.
Now, Stoke will once again have to be at their best in the Britannia Stadium if they are to become a stronger challenger in the Premier League.
2. Are more transfers coming to Stoke City?
As of the time that this article will be published, Stoke City will only have one transfer completed.
With this, the question now will be if Stoke City can get some more players to join their squad for the long Premier League season.
3. Where are the goals going to come from?
The leading goalscorer for Stoke last year was Matthew Etherington with five as Stoke only scored 34 times, tied for second least in the entire Premier League.
Stoke will need to score more often this year in order to make the top half of the table.
4. Will Stoke once again have moderate success on the road?
Stoke were able to finish 11th after registering a 10 point increase on points gained away from home.
This season, Stoke will once again have to have gained around 20 points away from home in order to finish in the top half of the table.