There will be vital points to play for at the Britannia this weekend, as relegation-threatened Sunderland travel to Stoke City.
The Black Cats sit just one point above the bottom three after a disastrous run of form, while the hosts are well on track to achieve their best ever Premier League finish.
Stoke City
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It has been another good season for the Potters, who have comfortably secured a seventh consecutive year in the Premier League.
They are actually ninth in the league table and need just five more points to beat last season's record tally of 50.
Once they had made sure of safety last month, it seemed as if their campaign would trail off into obscurity, as three successive defeats in March to West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and Chelsea saw their hopes of earning a top-half finish suffer a blow.
However, they seem to be back on track, as they ended that losing run by salvaging a 1-1 draw against West Ham United, before coming from behind to claim a 2-1 victory over European hopefuls Southampton last weekend.
A lot of the credit for their success over the past couple of years must go to manager Mark Hughes, whose achievements have gone under the radar. He is highly thought of in Stoke and just last month he signed a new deal at the club which will see him stay until 2019.
Recent form: WLLLDW
Sunderland
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There is very little that hasn't been said about the shambles that has unfolded at Sunderland this season and the Black Cats are desperately hanging on to their place in the top flight.
Things seem to keep going from bad to worse and in their last match they were dealt another humiliating blow after suffering a 4-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace.
The score in that match was actually goalless at half time, but a disastrous collapse at the back saw them concede four goals in less than 15 minutes, with Yannick Bolasie bagging a quick-fire hat-trick for the Eagles.
It was such a contrast to their hard-fought 1-0 victory over rivals Newcastle United the previous weekend and it has left the club just one point above the bottom three.
That result against Newcastle was the only time that the Black Cats have managed to win in the last nine outings and with their final two games of the season away to Arsenal and Chelsea, they desperately need to start picking up points fast.
Recent form: LDLLWL
Team News
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Peter Odemwingie has returned to training for Stoke after a lengthy absence following a cruciate knee ligament injury, but he is unlikely to play any part this weekend.
Victor Moses and Bojan are ruled out for the season, but Marc Muniesa and Stephen Ireland could return from their recent injury problems.
Adam Johnson is unlikely to play for the visitors after being charged with three offences of sexual activity with a child under 16.
They will definitely be without Sebastian Larsson, who serves the last of a two-game ban, while Emanuele Giaccherini, Wes Brown and Ricky Alvarez remain sidelined.
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Peiters, N'Zonzi, Whelan, Adam, Arnautovic, Walters, Diouf
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Pantilimon, Jones, Vergini, O'Shea, Aanholt, Gomez, Cattermole, Rodwell, Wickham, Fletcher, Defoe
Head To Head
In this season's reverse fixture, Sunderland picked up their first win of the campaign by claiming a 3-1 victory over the Potters at the Stadium of Light.
This is a match that the Black Cats have tended to dominate over the years and they have come out on top in four of the last eight meetings between the teams.
It also appears that this weekend's match could be a low-scoring affair, with Stoke and Sunderland in the bottom half of the table for goals scored this season.
We say: Stoke City 2-0 Sunderland
On current form, it is hard to see anything other than a win for Stoke. They look to have put their recent bad patch behind them, while Sunderland are in freefall and another great escape looks unlikely. For those reasons, we are backing the Potters to pile the misery on their opponents by claiming all three points this weekend.
Alex Meyers
