Stoke Odds

Name: Stoke City Football Club
Fact: Stoke finished bottom in both of the opening two seasons of the Football League
Founded: 1863
Nicknames: The Potters
Ground: The Britannia Stadium, Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke on Trent, ST4 4EG
Capacity: 27,740
Owner: Peter Coates
Chairman: Peter Coates
Manager: Tony Pulis
League: Premier League
First FA Cup appearance: 1883 vs Manchester (1-2)
Record goalscorer: John Ritchie (171 goals)
Most appearances: Eric Skeels (592)
Record attendance: 51,380 vs Arsenal, 1937
Main Rival: Port Vale
Rivals: Crewe Alexandra, Cardiff City
Celebrity fans: Nick Hancock, Julian Clarey, Dominic Cork
Fans favourites: Rory Delap, Ricardo Fuller, Stanley Matthews

Stoke let down by lack of away goals

Stoke have been on the brink of finishing in the top half of the table in all four of their Premier League seasons, but have been severely let down by a lack of away goals.

12th, 11th, 13th and 14th are reasonable finishes for a team the size of Stoke and although their consistency should be applauded, they are now in a position where they should be looking to climb the table and potentially break into the top ten for the first time.

Stoke’s long-ball style has been labelled as physical and unstimulating but their approach of getting the ball into the box quickly is largely considered to generate good results.

But this may not actually be the case, especially away from the Britannia Stadium.

In three of their four Premier League seasons, Stoke have scored the fewest number of away goals in the division.

Stoke have failed to score in almost half (37) of their 76 Premier League away fixtures, while they have only scored more than once on their travels on 12 occasions in this time.

Broken down by season, Stoke have netted 16, ten, 15 and 11 goals in each respective season in away games, which is equal to or less than the number scored by one of the three relegated teams in that particular campaign, and less than half of two of them in 2011/2012.

Scoring has been particularly problematic for Stoke away at clubs in the top half of the table.

Stoke have only ever scored 18 goals, taken 17 points and won three of their 40 away games against teams finishing in the top half, with two of these victories coming in the past season.

More points and goals on their travels would surely cast aside any small relegation fears at Stoke and potentially leave them on the cusp of a first top-ten Premier League finish.