Stoke City v Huddersfield Town

Match preview

19 Jan 2018
Huddersfield Town v Stoke City
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Manager Paul Lambert will assess the fitness of Stoke City's new full-back Kostas Stafylidis before deciding whether he is Premier-League ready.

Ryan Shawcross (calf) and Glen Johnson (knee) are facing late fitness tests. Jese is unavailable (personal reasons).

David Wagner may give a full debut to new recruit Alex Pritchard, following his move to Huddersfield Town from Norwich City.

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.

Did you know?

Although Huddersfield Town have won only two away PL matches this season, both of those victories were by a three-goal margin.

This will be new Stoke manager Paul Lambert’s first PL match in charge since February 2015, when his Aston Villa side lost 2-0 at Hull City.

Tom Ince scored his only goal for Huddersfield in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day.

In their last 10 Premier League home matches, Stoke City have been defeated in alternate matches. Their last home match, Newcastle United, was a defeat.

What the managers say 

Paul Lambert: "I know roughly what they are like from last season, albeit they’ve brought one or two new lads in, and it’s going to be a tough game – every game is tough in the Premier League."

See: Stafylidis eager for debut

David Wagner: "We played against Paul Lambert twice since I’ve been here in Huddersfield; Blackburn away when he was in charge and Wolves away when he was in charge, so this means we are aware of what his mindset is."

See: Wagner: Competition for places

Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Scott Ledger, Mick McDonough
Fourth official: Neil Swarbrick

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