Sideways Sammy

A come-from-behind win against Sheffield United in midweek has ensured that Coventry City will enter the third international break of the season top of the table. A trip to second-placed Stoke City is far from must-win but it provides an opportunity for the Sky Blues to push the chasing pack even further away from view as they look to build an early points tally that can shield against any drop in form over the rest of the campaign.

One of the form teams in the league, Coventry are taking on a Stoke side who are playing their best football all season. Mark Robins seems to have lifted the curse against the Potters that had moored them to somewhere around 16th place in the Championship. This is all set-up to be a true heavyweight clash.

Expected Line-Up

Returns for Victor Torp, Milan van Ewijk and Bobby Thomas were all vital boosts for Coventry City in midweek, with the former two’s ability to provide telling set-pieces and long throws especially important in helping turn around what had been a sticky position that the team had got itself into. With Ephron Mason-Clark making a telling contribution from the bench, Frank Lampard is likely to stick with that second-half team from Tuesday night.

Of course, the relatively tight turnaround between this game and the last one may render fitness as a factor in what kind of team Lampard picks, especially as he only made one substitution before stoppage time against Sheffield United. Bobby Thomas moving gingerly early on Tuesday’s game is a concern, along with whether Victor Torp has another 90 minutes in his locker after recent fitness issues. While the manager will have been encouraged to see Thomas make it through the rest of the Sheffield United game unscathed and will likely stick with him here, Torp’s fitness will likely have to be more closely monitored.

It helped that the team played much better on Tuesday in the 4-2-3-1 shape with Brandon Thomas-Asante playing just behind Haji Wright, which might mean Frank Lampard has four players to pick for two midfield positions, rather than for three, with Matt Grimes a lock for one of those berths. It remains the likeliest case that Victor Torp will start alongside the captain in a middle two, but Josh Eccles or Jamie Allen have a chance of getting in if the manager wants to save Torp for later on.

Elsewhere, the centre-forward position is possibly another area of contention after another underwhelming display from Haji Wright, which continued his sub-par form since going on United States international duty last month. The specific concern for this game is how well he’ll handle dealing with a physical and athletic Stoke City back-line. With the team likely being stretched in midfield in order to play Thomas-Asante as a withdrawn forward, that could make Ellis Simms the more sensible pick as the starter here – saving Wright for later on against tired legs. However, Lampard clearly has a preference for starting Wright at centre-forward unless forced to think otherwise.

Last Time We Met

It was Mark Robins’ first return to the Coventry Building Society Arena back in March after his sacking around this time last year, as he led a Stoke City side battling for points to stay in the division to take on an in-form Coventry City outfit under Frank Lampard. In typical Robins fashion, his return came without ceremony and instead nearly provided a nasty slip on a banana skin against his former employers as Stoke came out as the more energised and effective team.

Lewis Koumas and Ali Al-Hamadi spurned excellent chances to put Stoke City ahead early on after finding it too easy to get in behind Coventry’s high defensive line. However, the Sky Blues scored two goals in ten minutes to move into a commanding position. First, Victor Torp headed in a Milan van Ewijk long throw, then the Dane seized in a Tatsuhiro Sakamoto pass to finish – in Frank Lampard style – past Viktor Johansson to make it two.

A potentially key incident in the game game just before half-time, when Johansson in the Stoke City goal wiped out Ephron Mason-Clark, who was clean through on goal, for a certain penalty and red card. Instead, the referee failed to spot the incident and it allowed Stoke to reset at half-time, introducing Sam Gallagher up front and Million Manhoef out wide to allow the away side to regain control of the game.

It was magnificent play from Wouter Burger for Stoke that teed up Sam Gallagher for a tap-in to begin the comeback for the away team. It set up a tense finale with Stoke in the ascendancy, which Coventry looked to have ridden out, only for a needless set-piece given away that allowed Manhoef to pick out Gallagher for an equaliser with four minutes remaining.

If there was one team that was going to win it, it looked to be Stoke City. However, Bobby Thomas seized on a loose ball in the box in the dying embers of second-half stoppage time, cutting in onto his left foot and firing with aplomb into the back of the net to secure a remarkable, and fortunate, home win.

The Opposition

The Manager – Mark Robins

It goes without saying just how vital a figure in Coventry City’s history Mark Robins is and always will be. At Stoke City, he has proved that his success in Sky Blue was no flash in the pan, dragging the Potters away from danger last season and subsequently leading them into the automatic promotion race this time around. Crucially, it is success that has come without assistant manager, Adi Viveash, at his side, which had been a key element in his sacking at Coventry last year.

In typical Robins fashion, this Stoke City team has been about building a structure around which star individuals can flourish. Whereas previously, Stoke felt like less than the sum of their parts, they are now built like a cohesive team-unit and one that can be trusted to keep games tight when they’re not playing well and blow teams apart when they are.

Who To Look Out For?

Upon arriving at Stoke City, Mark Robins quickly identified Million Manhoef and Lewis Baker as star attacking players to look to build the team around. Manhoef is an incredibly quick and light-footed wide player who beats players for fun and is now producing a more reliable end product. Baker was recalled from an underwhelming loan at Blackburn Rovers last January and has been entrusted to run games for Stoke with his playmaking and shooting ability from midfield and is repaying that faith Robins is showing in him with consistent stand-out displays.

On top of that, Sorba Thomas and Divin Mubama have been added over the summer to give Stoke City four attacking players who can each win games on their own. Thomas possesses probably the best crossing and set-piece deliveries in the division with these wicked curling, looping balls designed to bamboozle defences, like Lewis Baker, Thomas is someone whose career had been going to the wayside until Mark Robins placed his trust in him. Mubama is a giant centre-forward who’d been lethal in Premier League academy football, earning a big move to Manchester City in 2024, and is a raw talent still learning men’s football but someone with great striker’s instincts when on form.

Stoke City’s best attacking player, however, may actually be their right-back, Junior Tchamadeu, who has really matured this season into a force from that position. Pacey, well-built and absolutely relentless in his running, he is someone who can be very hard to stop when he gets going. Additionally, Bae Jun-ho operating in one of the three positions behind the centre-forward is another dangerous ball-carrier.

The rest of the team is largely focused on providing a solid platform for those attacking players to make a difference from. Midfielders like Ben Pearson and Steven Nzonzi provide experience to protect the defence, while Aaron Cresswell at left-back is another handy older head to steer the team. In central defence, Ashley Phillips is a tall, classy presence who will be playing Premier League football next season, with Ben Wilmot a steady head alongside him.

In goal, Stoke City can rely upon the heroics of Viktor Johansson. The Swede is a very instinctive shot-stopper with great reflexes who can pull off saves most other goalkeepers in the division are not capable of. Having played for Rotherham United before joining Stoke last season, Johansson is finally proving he’s not just a goalkeeper who excels because his teams concede loads of chances.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Stoke City are second-place and in excellent form over the past three games, but there is an argument that they are running hot with their finishing and Viktor Johansson producing heroics between the sticks. Their strength is the pace they have in abundance on the counter-attack, so it may be an idea of Frank Lampard and the coaching staff to try and restrict those opportunities by sitting a little deeper than usual to deny their attackers space to thrive in.

The worry with that strategy is Sorba Thomas’s crossing ability from out wide. He is someone who can really pick out team-mates out of nowhere. With Divin Mubama a big aerial presence in the box, shutting down Thomas from crossing from the left wing will be a big concern, with Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto having to be switched on.

The key battle looks to be down Stoke’s right/Coventry’s left, with Junior Tchamdeu’s devastating running from right-back something that could really target Ephon Mason-Clark’s relative lack of defensive instincts which could leave Jay Dasilva exposed. The midfield will have an important role to play in trying to shuffle over to prevent Tchamadeu getting space to run into, while Lampard could be minded to play Thomas-Asante on the left, or maybe even Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, to afford more protection to Dasilva.

Stoke City don’t concede many shots from set-pieces but goals from dead balls have contributed to 44% of the total amount they’ve conceded this season. While Viktor Johansson is a shot-stopper par excellence, he is not the most commanding in his penalty area, so Milan van Ewijk’s looping long throws and Victor Torp’s wicked set-piece deliveries could really test the Swede’s ability to come off his line to claim crosses.