Newcastle v Stoke - Premier League match preview

Newcastle will have to recover from the long flight to and from Russia ahead of a visit from Tony Pulis’ Stoke City.

Alan Pardew admitted earlier in the season that his side has struggled to find the right balance as they try and shuffle getting a respectable league position with doing well in the Europa League. Pardew will look to get a similar result they achieved against Southampton to reinvigorate his side’s mid table hopes.

Stoke will want to end their bad run of form and push up the table with a win on Tyneside as they’ve only won one league game in the last three months. To do that the Potters must start picking up points again before the relegation battle catches up with them.

KICK-OFF: Sunday, 3pm

PAST THREE MEETINGS…

Stoke 2 (Walters, Jerome) Newcastle 1 (Cisse), Premier League, November 2012

Newcastle 3 (Cabaye 2, Cisse) Stoke 0, Premier League, April 2012

Stoke 1 (Walters) Newcastle 3 (Ba 3), Premier League, October 2011

STATS…

After 28 games last season Newcastle were sitting in 6th position and had 14 more points than they do now.

Stoke have only won once on their travels.

Newcastle currently have 10 French players on their senior team’s books, more than any other club in the league.

Only Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal have conceded less or the same amount of goals than Stoke so far this season.

ODDS…

Newcastle to win: 1.9

Stoke to win: 4.8

Draw: 3.65

TV: Highlights on BBC1 at 10.25pm.