This Week's Opposition: Stoke City

The Potters are put under the microscope ahead of their midweek trip down to Fratton Park.

After a brilliant comeback on Saturday to beat Middlesbrough at Fratton Park, the Blues are back on home soil just 4 days later - Stoke City the opponents.

MANAGER

Former Coventry City boss Mark Robins is now in charge of The Potters.

Robins was controversially sacked by The Sky Blues in November - He had been the longest serving manager in the Championship.

The 55-year-old signed a 3-and-a-half year contract with Stoke on New Year’s Day following the dismissal of Narcís Pelach, who is now a first-team coach at West Ham United.

ONE TO WATCH

The top goalscorer for League Two, Nathan Lowe is our one to watch this Wednesday evening.

Lowe managed to find the back of the net 15 times from 22 appearances in the 4th division before being recalled by Stoke on January 12th.

Since returning to his parent club, the 19-year-old striker has scored 1 goal in 1 game, helping his side to a 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.

TOP SCORER

Stoke’s leading scorer this season is no longer with the club.

22-year-old striker Tom Cannon was recalled from his loan by parent club Leicester City earlier this month - He had scored 9 league goals this season and 4 of those were against Pompey alone back at the bet365 Stadium in October.

With 3 goals and 3 assists in the league, as well as 2 Carabao Cup, 23-year-old forward Million Manhoef is the next leading scorer still with The Potters, however he’s been sidelined since mid-December with a medial collateral knee injury.

CURRENT FORM

Prior to the midweek round of fixtures commencing on Tuesday evening, The Potters occupied 18th place in the Championship having picked up 28 points from 27 games.

They are on a run of 5 games without defeat across all competitions and last tasted defeat on Boxing Day, when they were beaten 2-0 by Leeds United.

Each of their previous 3 league fixtures have ended in stalemates and their most recent game away at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday ended 1-1.

Can the Blues record back-to-back wins for the first time this season and once again escape the relegation zone?

Jake Smith, Joe Wood and James Wilson will be reporting from Fratton Park from 7pm on Wednesday (January 22nd) evening to provide full pre-match build-up, half-time analysis and post-game reaction on Pompey Live.

Kick-off: 7:45pm!