Stevenage v Stoke preview: Potters set to shuffle pack for EFL Cup
Tuesday 23 August 2016 20:35, UK
Stoke are likely to shuffle their pack for Tuesday's trip to League Two Stevenage in the EFL Cup.
Mark Hughes is set to take an unchanged squad to Hertfordshire but there are likely to be several changes to the starting line up with the likes of Marc Muniesa, Geoff Cameron, Charlie Adam, Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch - all of whom were on the bench against Manchester City at the weekend - likely to be involved.
It is hoped Swiss playmaker Shaqiri (ankle) might be fit for the Premier League trip to Everton but Stephen Ireland (broken leg) and Ibrahim Afellay (knee) remain out, while Glen Johnson and Jack Butland are not yet ready.
Stevenage have already claimed the scalp of Championship side Ipswich in the previous round and assistant boss Mark Bowen expects whatever Stoke team takes the field at Broadhall Way to show both the appropriate fight and quality to get the Potters into the next round.
"Cups are massively important for us and Everton at the weekend cannot be in our mind yet because we have plenty of time to recover. We'll be all guns blazing for tomorrow night," said Bowen at his pre-match press conference.
"We approach it like we always do; we want to win cup matches. We'll go as strong as we can and we already know that Ipswich Town played a strong side in the last round and Stevenage won so that's a 'red light' for us.
"We nearly got caught at Luton Town in the same stage last season and we'll need a mental toughness to go there and win. We need to put a shift in and hopefully show the superiority that we should have."
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This will be the first ever competitive meeting between these two sides.
Stoke progressed from their last second round League Cup match by beating Luton 8-7 on penalties (after an initial 1-1 draw).
Stevenage have never gone beyond the second round of the League Cup.
The last time Stevenage drew Premier League opposition in Round 2 of the League Cup, they lost 2-1 away at Everton in 2013/14.
