Stoke City vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance23,912.
Monday 31 December 2018 12:21, UK
Erik Pieters remains a doubt for Stoke with a hamstring injury having sat out the 0-0 draw at Bolton.
Cuco Martina and Saido Berahino were dropped for the draw as Tom Edwards and Benik Afobe started. It will be Stoke's fourth game in 11 days and boss Gary Rowett is likely to rotate again. Peter Etebo could start having been on the bench at Bolton.
Bristol City are expected to recall Eros Pisano after the defender was rested against Rotherham. Lloyd Kelly and Andreas Weimann were benched for the 1-0 win as the Robins rotated and are in line to return.
Nathan Baker (calf) is a doubt but Matt Taylor made Saturday's bench after a hip flexor problem. Korey Smith (knee) and Liam Walsh (knee) remain sidelined.
Stoke are unbeaten in their last eight home league games against Bristol City (W6 D2), with this their first against them since April 2008 - a 2-1 win.
Since beating Stoke in back-to-back league meetings in 1959, Bristol City have only won two of their following 18 such matches against the Potters (D7 L9).
Stoke boss Gary Rowett has only lost one of his six previous Championship games against Bristol City as a manager (W3 D2), a 4-1 defeat as Derby County boss at Ashton Gate in September 2017.
Bristol City have lost 14 of their last 16 away league matches played on New Year's Day, drawing the other two. Their last away win on January 1st came in 1903 at Blackpool, a 1-0 victory.
Stoke City's Tom Ince has been directly involved in 10 goals in nine league appearances against Bristol City, scoring eight and assisting two.
Lee Johnson has lost his two league matches on New Year's Day by an aggregate score of 7-1 (Oldham 1-2 Shrewsbury in 2014, Aston Villa 5-0 Bristol City in 2018).
David Prutton predicts: 1-0 (11/2 with Sky Bet)
