Stoke v Villa preview

Potters welcome Villa to The Britannia

By James Pearson   Last updated: 12th March 2010  

Stoke v Villa preview

Carew: Good form against Potters

PREDICTIONS:

Skysports.com's prediction: Stoke 2 Villa 2

SKY BET odds: Stoke 11/5, Draw 9/4, Villa 5/4

One to watch: John Carew

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Aston Villa will be keen to maintain their quest for a top four finish when they lock horns with Stoke City at The Britannia.

Villa are currently four points adrift of fourth-placed Spurs, although Martin O'Neill's side do crucially have two games in hand.

The visitors are unlikely to have their own way this weekend as Stoke have lost just four of 14 league matches on home soil this season, while they secured a 3-2 win in the corresponding fixture last season.

Although, Stoke's home form has not been great of late with Tony Pulis' side winning just two of their last seven at home. Those wins came against Blackburn and Fulham.

A win for Stoke would see them close to within two points of that magical 40-point mark that many see as the tally too good for relegation.

Potters news

Stoke drew 1-1 with Burnley on Wednesday and it will be interesting to see whether Pulis freshens up his side against a Villa outfit that beat Reading in the FA Cup last Sunday.

Pulis is hoping to have some of his injured players back as Ricardo Fuller, Glenn Whelan, Danny Higginbotham, Salif Diao and James Beattie all sat out the Burnley match while Ryan Shawcross remains suspended.

However, Matthew Etherington returned to the team following a knee problem and should continue on the left wing having played the full game.

Pulis believes Fuller will recover in time after the striker fell over and jarred his back in the FA Cup defeat by Chelsea on Sunday.

"He has quite a bit of swelling," said the Stoke boss. "But we think he has a good chance of playing on Saturday.

Villa news

John Carew could keep his place up front as he has a good league record against Stoke having scored three in three, including the winner in Villa's 1-0 success over the Potters earlier this season.

Villa's leading scorer Gabriel Agbonlahor is expected to be fit. The England striker returned to training after being ruled out of last weekend's FA Cup quarter-final win at Reading with a stomach bug.

Agbonlahor, who has been on target 14 times this season, needs one more goal to reach the 50 mark for Villa.

O'Neill has no fresh injury worries as Villa gear up for a spell of five league games in 15 days as they play catch-up after their Carling Cup and FA Cup success this season.

Possible starting XIs

Stoke: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Huth, Abdoulaye Faye, Collins, Lawrence, Delap, Etherington, Whitehead, Sidibe, Tuncay

Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Young, Milner, Petrov, Downing, Agbonlahor, Carew

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