Stoke City manager Alex Neil has heaped praise on Jon Dahl Tomasson’s Blackburn Rovers and has even revealed how his side will look to hurt the Lancashire club ahead of this weekend’s clash.
Despite a disappointing start to the campaign, the Potters have picked up three wins and two draws from their last five matches in the Championship and have managed to claw their way into promotion contention.
Neil’s men now sit 14th in the table and just five points separate themselves and sixth-place Sunderland but face a tough test this weekend when Blackburn come to town. Stoke are merely one point behind the Riversiders and a victory would put them above their promotion-chasing counterparts.
Rovers will be hoping to put a 2-1 home defeat against Preston North End in the Lancashire Derby behind them by getting back to winning ways at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Stoke boss Neil was full of praise for tomorrow’s visitors in his pre-match press conference but offered some insight into how his side can come out on top against the former Premier League champions [quotes via the Lancashire Telegraph]:
“I’ve watched them, as I’ve said, about eight or nine times and I’d suggest there were another three or four matches this season that they could have or should have won based on their performance. We certainly won’t be taking them lightly.
“They’re really well coached and I think they’ve got a really good, young, enthusiastic team. I think they’re a good side,” he continued.
“We know exactly how they’re going to play and I’m sure they’ll know exactly how we’re going to play. It’s just how well you can do it on the day, can we negate what we feel they’re strongest at and expose what might be their weakness? They’ll be looking to do the same against us.
“It will boil down to how good we are out of possession and how good we are in possession. They’ll be the same. The exciting thing about this game is that neither team is cagey. Both teams are going to go for it and we’ll see what happens.”
Stoke City could potentially go on a nice run of form over the coming weeks, starting with a win over Blackburn Rovers, as favourable fixtures against Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth Argyle, Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City await.
Writer’s View
This is a big game for both sides. A win could claw them to within touching distance of the playoff spots, providing Sunderland drop points at Plymouth. However, a defeat would be a big blow as the two clubs are already chasing the rest of the pack.
Nevertheless, Stoke City are having a decent spell at the moment, having gone five league games unbeaten, and could fancy themselves to pick up another victory.
Deputy Head of Writing
