Tom Cannon starts: The predicted Stoke City XI to face Oxford on Saturday
Stoke City are looking to extend their winning streak to three games as they travel to Oxford United after the international break.
The Potters have had a decent start to the new campaign, with four wins from the first six games in all competitions leaving them in 11th place in the Championship and into the third round of the EFL Cup.
Last time out saw Steven Schumacher’s side take on his old team Plymouth Argyle, and Stoke emerged 1-0 victors thanks to Million Manhoef’s late strike, which followed up an emphatic 5-0 win at Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup where he fielded one of the club’s youngest ever sides by average age.
Schumacher could hand debuts to two new signings at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday, after Tom Cannon and Tatsuki Seko each joined the club on deadline day from Leicester City and Kawasaki Frontale respectively, while Jordan Thompson, Enda Stevens and Michael Rose could come back into the squad after injury.
Their hosts have also started the season in respectable form after promotion from League One, with two wins and two losses from their four Championship outings seeing them in ninth-place heading into this weekend.
This is the first meeting between the two clubs since February 2001, where a 1-1 draw was played out at Oxford’s old Manor Ground in the third tier of English football.
This Saturday 12:30 clash is certain to be an interesting one so early on in the season, and with that said, we have predicted Stoke’s lineup in Oxfordshire.
GK: Viktor Johansson
Barring injury, Viktor Johansson is set to continue as the Potters’ main goalkeeper for the whole of this season ahead of Jack Bonham and Frank Fielding.
He impressed on international duty as he made his first two starts for Sweden in the last week, and has kept a clean sheet in his last two Potters outings against Middlesbrough and Plymouth.
RB: Junior Tchamadeu
Junior Tchamadeu will be glad to see the back of the transfer window, after talk of Stoke bringing in a new right-back did not come to fruition and he was left as Schumacher’s only out-and-out option in his position.
Tchamadeu has featured from the off in all four of the Potters’ league games so far, and looks to have nailed down a starting berth for the foreseeable future.
CB: Ben Wilmot
Ben Wilmot is another that has been an ever-present in the league, and has carried his good form from the back end of last season into this campaign.
He led the Potters out as captain against Plymouth, as Ben Gibson was on the bench, and the same could happen against Oxford this weekend.
CB: Ashley Phillips
Ashley Phillips’ emergence into Schumacher’s starting 11 has coincided with two clean sheets in as many games, so there seems little reason for him to be dropped anytime soon.
The Spurs loanee will hope to forge a strong partnership with Wilmot in the next few games, as they both bid to keep Gibson and Michael Rose out of the team going forward.
LB: Eric Bocat
Much like Tchamadeu at right-back, summer signing Eric Bocat has made Stoke’s left-back spot his own so far this season with some decent performances, but there is also not much in the way of competition for his place in the side.
Enda Stevens is set to return to the fold this weekend though, and so the Frenchman will want to continue in a similar vein to make sure that he is one of his head-coach’s go-to starters this season.
CM: Wouter Burger
Wouter Burger has remained at Stoke for the new season despite rumours of a Premier League move throughout the summer, and needs to keep proving that he is a top second-tier midfielder after starting this season in strong form.
The Dutchman has played a part in all of Stoke’s six games so far this season, with his two consecutive league starts set to continue in Oxford.
