Preview: Stoke City vs. Southampton - prediction, team news, lineups

In a game that was a Premier League fixture as recently as 2018, both sides will enter it a little underwhelmed at their respective starts to the season.

Match preview

Despite that though, the two come into the midweek set of games on the back of morale-boosting victories.

Stoke fought heroically from a two-nil deficit inside 15 minutes to clinch a last-gasp win at Bristol City on Saturday.

Nathan Lowe's first-ever senior goal in the 89th-minute sealed a 3-2 win for the Potters at Ashton Gate.

It was much needed considering Stoke went into the game on a run of one draw and four defeats in five games.

A draw at Huddersfield Town was their only result in that time, as they also crashed out of the EFL Cup to Premier League Bournemouth a week ago.

The three points at the weekend were hugely important though, as it kept them out of the relegation zone in a very congested bottom half in the Championship.

Despite coming into this fixture up in 16th after the 3-2 success, Stoke are still just two points clear of trouble, so it is crucial that they can maintain that level of performance or Alex Neil's job may remain under threat.

Southampton started the season with big ambitions of bouncing straight back up to the Premier League after last season's relegation.

The Saints made a fantastic start under Russell Martin, taking 10 points from their opening four games, placing them up in the promotion positions.

However, within just a month, a 3-1 win over Leeds United represented a huge sigh of relief for a side which were plummeting down the table.

Four straight losses prior had quickly seen Southampton fall into mid-table, with a 5-0 thrashing at Sunderland and a 4-1 defeat at home to Leicester City being particularly damaging.

Saturday's win takes Martin's side into 10th, just three points off the playoffs, and it also saw Kamaldeen Sulemana finally announce himself on the scene this season.

The Ghanaian looked likely to leave late in the window, but after nothing transpired, he was reintegrated into the squad, but was sent off on his first appearance of the season against Leicester.

In his first start on Saturday though, Sulemana was instrumental, setting up two goals as Southampton raced into a 3-0 lead, with two of the goals coming from Adam Armstrong - leaving him joint-top of the scoring charts with seven.

Stoke City Championship form:

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D

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W

Stoke City form (all competitions):

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W

Southampton Championship form:

W

L

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W

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Team News

Stoke will remain without Tyrese Campbell as he continues on his recovery from a leg injury picked up early on against Hull City.

Irish full-back Enda Stevens will also miss out after sustaining a calf problem on international duty last month, and he will be absent along with midfielder Lewis Baker, who has been missing since May.

Summer signing Ross Stewart is still yet to feature after swapping the red and black stripes of Sunderland for the red and white of Southampton.

Despite Armstrong's excellent start to the season, Stewart's influence would be much welcome, considering he scored 36 league goals in 62 games for Sunderland over the last two seasons.

Also sidelined are defensive duo Jack Stephens (calf) and young Spaniard Juan Larios (muscle) for the visitors.

Stoke City possible starting lineup:

Travers; Hoever, Rose, Wilmot, Gooch; Laurent, Pearson, Johnson; Leris, Wesley, Haksabanovic

Southampton possible starting lineup:

Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Manning; Smallbone, Downes, Alcaraz, S Armstrong, Sulemana; A Armstrong

We say: Stoke City 1-1 Southampton

Despite both bouncing back from adversity with wins at the weekend, the two could cancel each other out here in a clash that is tough to call on paper.

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