Stoke largely impressed in this year’s Europa League, winning the first place in the group in front of Besiktas, Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel Aviv, so the Potters will fancy their chances against Valencia. Having missed out on a place in the Champions League knockout stages, los Che will give their best to reach the final stages of Europa League.

Four defeats in a row

While Stoke have been doing extremely well on domestic stage over the last few years, football pundits across England seriously doubted the Potters can make a difference in Europe. Tony Pulis’ side quickly showed they were not there only to make numbers as they first qualified for Europa League group stage, before winning their group in front of European heavyweights Besiktas, Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Potters continued the rich vein of form on domestic stage, stabilizing their mid table position in the Premier League, while reaching the FA Cup last 16 stage. Tony Pulis’ side did suffer a big dip in form of late, having lost last four Premier League games, but current form is unlikely to matter much when the Potters host European giants Valencia at packed Britannia Stadium. With FA Cup game against minnows Crawley Town up next, Tony Pulis has no reason not to field his strongest line-up against Valencia.

Asmir Begovic is likely to replace Thomas Sorensen in goal, whereas Rory Delap should return to the starting line-up. Robert Huth returns from domestic suspension.

Valencia return to winning ways

While Stoke heavily rely on physical approach and set-pieces, Valencia nurture slick passing style of play and win most of the games thanks to their technical superiority. Boasting highly skilled players such as Sofiane Feghouli, Ever Banega, Tino Costa, Jonas and Pablo Hernandez, los Che tend to dominate most of the games, although their attacking department mostly depends on magnificent Roberto Soldado. Despite showing a lot of promise in Champions League group stage, los Che failed to qualify for the next phase, but they are now very motivated to do well in Europa League seeing that is their only chance to win a trophy this season. Boasting an eight-point advantage over the top 4 rivals in La Liga, Unai Emery’s side can fully focus on the clash with Stoke, although they are by no means expected to have an easy job at Britannia.

Jordi Alba misses out with a bout of flu, whereas keeper Diego Alves is unlikely to feature even though he has traveled to England.

Verdict

This should be a very interesting game between two sides with completely different approaches to football, but I just can’t separate the two teams at the moment. Valencia are technically superior to Stoke, but they could find it hard to match the Potters’ physical game, so I see draw as the most likely outcome here.

Our prediction: Draw

Odds: 3.30 (23/10)

Bookmakers: Stan James