Preview: Stoke City vs. Southampton

Stoke City will looking to avenge their recent defeat to Southampton when the teams meet in the fourth round of the League Cup on Wednesday.

The Potters' inconsistent start to the new Premier League season continued last Saturday as they were beaten 1-0 by the high-flying Saints at St Mary's Stadium.

However, Mark Hughes's side have been impressive in the League Cup this term, scoring a total of five goals in their previous wins over Portsmouth and Sunderland.

Southampton travel to the Britannia Stadium in superb form, with Saturday's victory over Stoke moving them up to second place in the Premier League table.

The Saints were beaten in the fourth round of last season's competition, but they may well fancy themselves to go all the way this year due to their continued success under new manager Ronald Koeman.

Stoke have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the match, though Glenn Whelan and Peter Odemwingie remain out of action through injury. James Ward-Prowse and Jay Rodriguez are expected to be the only absentees for the visitors.

Recent form

Stoke: DWWLWL

Southampton: WWWLWW

Possible starting lineups

Stoke: Sorensen; Bardsley, Shawcross, Huth, Pieters; Cameron, Sidwell, Walters, Adam, Diouf; Crouch

Southampton: Forster; Clyne, Fonte, Yoshida, Bertrand; Cork, Wanyama, S Davis, Mane, Tadic; Long

Sports Mole says: 1-2