Stoke City vs Huddersfield Town. Premier League.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance29,785.
Saturday 20 January 2018 13:58, UK
Paul Lambert takes charge of Stoke for the first time as they welcome relegation rivals Huddersfield Town to the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.
Lambert takes over a team that have lost their last three games without scoring and sit precariously in 18th place in the Premier League.
The new boss has never won his first Premier League game in charge of a new club - drawing when Norwich boss and losing with Aston Villa.
These two teams met on Boxing Day in a 1-1 draw where Tom Ince scored for Huddersfield and Ramadan Sobhi (60) equalised for Stoke.
The Terriers have failed to score in eight of their 11 away games this season, although have racked up convincing wins at Watford (4-1) and Crystal Palace (3-0).
Left-back Kostas Stafylidis could make his Stoke debut after signing on loan from Augsburg, with the 24-year-old having last played for the Bundesliga outfit in November.
Fellow defenders Ryan Shawcross, Erik Pieters, Geoff Cameron and Glen Johnson, each of whom have been sidelined, have all trained.
Alex Pritchard could make his first start for Huddersfield after his move from Norwich.
Collin Quaner (hamstring) is back in contention, as is Chris Lowe (foot) and Michael Hefele (Achilles) but Philip Billing, Martin Cranie (both ankle), Elias Kachunga and Jon Stankovic (both knee) will not feature.
This is the first league meeting between these sides at the Bet365 Stadium since September 2001, a 1-1 draw when the sides were playing in the third tier.
Huddersfield haven't won away at Stoke in the top-flight since August 1950, winning 1-0 at the Victoria Ground, although this is their first top-flight visit to Stoke since September 1971.
Stoke have alternated between defeat and either a win/draw in their last 10 Premier League home games, losing last time out against Newcastle.
Stoke have conceded 50 Premier League goals this season - five of the previous six sides that conceded 50+ goals at this stage of the season were relegated, with the exception being Swansea in 2016-17. Indeed, the Potters have conceded more league goals than any other team in Europe's big five divisions this season.
This will be Paul Lambert's first Premier League game in charge since February 2015, when his Aston Villa side lost 2-0 at Hull. He failed to win any of his last 10 in the competition at Villa (D3 L7), with his side scoring just twice in that run.
Jack Butland (43) has conceded more Premier League goals this season than any other goalkeeper.
Tom Ince scored his only goal for Huddersfield to date in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day, having failed to find the net in his first 20 games for them in all competitions.
Paul Lambert's first game in charge. If you could pick a game, this may be it. I know there are no easy games, but Huddersfield haven't got the greatest away record and have just been battered by West Ham.
I was a bit shocked by the Lambert appointment, but I'm pleased for him. I think he was too nice at Villa, with the Randy Lerner situation, he backed the owner and didn't complain, instead of saying the board are giving me nothing.
I think he has learned from that situation, and I'm going to go for a good start for him. It'll be a cagey game, nonetheless.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-0 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
