Stoke City play host to Bristol City on Good Friday looking to remain in the mix for a top-10 finish in the Championship standings.
Meanwhile, the Robins, who are down in 19th position, make the trip to the bet365 Stadium on the back of a four-match winless streak.
Match preview
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With promotion to the Premier League now highly unlikely, Michael O'Neill knows that whatever he does during the final weeks of the season may not be enough to retain his position in the Stoke dugout.
However, the Potters deserve credit for their response to a nine-game winless streak, collecting three victories from their following four fixtures.
Notably, those triumphs have been against promotion-chasing clubs, the latest success coming at West Bromwich Albion by a 3-1 scoreline last weekend.
That result was only enough to ensure that Stoke head into this game sitting in 15th spot, although the gap to 10th-placed Coventry City only stands at four points.
The argument will be that Stoke are only performing to a higher level because they are playing with more freedom but regardless of the circumstances, they are showing what they are capable of under their current boss.
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Nigel Pearson realistically requires a Stoke-like resurgence if he is to retain his position at Bristol City, the Robins currently on a four-game run without a win.
Ending the campaign in 17th spot is still achievable, although that will do little to ease the mood at Ashton Gate after a second dismal season in a row.
As has been mentioned frequently this campaign, Bristol City have not recorded back-to-back wins since February 2021, a quite startling statistic when considering the firepower at their disposal.
That said, their attack has not been the issue this season with Bristol City keeping just one clean sheet from their last 21 matches in all competitions.
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Team News
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Barring any injury issues, O'Neill could stick with the Stoke XI which started the victory at The Hawthorns on Saturday.
Young defender William Forrester made a strong impression on his first Championship start of the season and should retain his spot.
Ben Wilmot and Josh Maja seem likely to remain among the replacements, despite their late introductions versus the Baggies.
Antoine Semenyo may return to the Bristol City starting lineup after making an 18-minute outing last time out on the back of his recovery from injury.
Providing that Pearson does not change from a back three, Robbie Cundy could be given another opportunity despite an indifferent performance versus Peterborough.
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Bonham; Forrester, Jagielka, Harwood-Bellis; Smith, Baker, Vrancic, Allen, Tymon; Fletcher, Brown
Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Cundy, Klose, Atkinson; Scott, James, Williams, Dasilva; Weimann; Semenyo, Martin
We say: Stoke City 2-1 Bristol City
For the first time in a while, Stoke can say that all the momentum is with them heading into a Championship fixture. Although we expect Bristol City to put up a fight in the Potteries, the home side should have enough to edge this contest by the odd goal in three.
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Stoke City win with a probability of 60.41%. A draw had a probability of 21.9% and a win for Bristol City had a probability of 17.66%.
The most likely scoreline for a Stoke City win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.38%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.8%) and 2-1 (9.89%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.42%), while for a Bristol City win it was 0-1 (5.49%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood.
