Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the Championship match.
Stoke City have been bucking their usual trend of low-scoring fixtures, delivering an unexpected goal-fest in their latest match. Swansea City, however, remained true to form, narrowly losing away from home. Will Swansea City manage to cool their opponents' fiery form as they host them at Liberty Stadium?
Swansea City
Where can they find the secret to winning? Without a doubt, it's in their defence, even though they still need to score goals to secure victories. If the Welsh side concedes, they almost never come out on top. Only one of their three victories involved conceding a goal. Nevertheless, playing at home, Swansea City have kept a clean sheet in half of their past ten matches, including a 3:0 shutout against Stoke City.
Stoke City
After seven matches featuring either a single goal or none at all, Stoke City stunned Portsmouth with a resounding 6:1 victory. What sparked this change? Portsmouth's players, particularly the goalkeeper and the defender who conceded a penalty, were responsible for two of those goals. Praise is due to Tom Cannon, who scored four times. The disparity between actual goals and expected goals (xG) was stark, with 6 goals compared to 2.52 xG. Such prolificacy was absent in their last away match against Middlesbrough—seven attempts, with only one reaching the goalkeeper.
Swansea City vs Stoke City Prediction
The bookmakers favour Swansea City, likely considering the home advantage, which indeed has merit. While Stoke City did manage a 1:0 win away at Coventry City, they failed to score in their other three away fixtures, correlating with Swansea's form, and left without a single point. We concur with the bookmakers and predict that the home side will win with a clean sheet, despite their midweek performance.
