- 1 Stoke City vs Preston North End: ninth against bottom, and a fixture Preston keep getting right
- 2 Stoke City: five of six league wins by a single goal, and two clean sheets running
- 3 Preston North End: no away win, no clean sheet and seven league games without a victory
- 4 Free Football Prediction: Stoke City vs Preston North End
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Stoke City vs Preston North End: ninth against bottom, and a fixture Preston keep getting right 
Preston North End haven’t lost on any of their last eight league visits to Stoke, and they’ve conceded once in that whole run. They’ve kept a clean sheet on each of their last four trips to the bet365 Stadium.
That’s the one thing in their favour on Saturday 31 October, kick-off 12:30 UK time. Preston are bottom of the Championship with five points from 12 games: one win, two draws, nine defeats, ten goals scored and 25 conceded. They haven’t won in seven league matches, and they haven’t won away from home all season.
Stoke are ninth on 20 points, level with the three sides directly above them and five behind the leaders, Middlesbrough. Mark Robins’s team have lost one of their last six league games, 3-2 at home to Middlesbrough on 13 October, and they’ve kept clean sheets in the two since: 1-0 at Derby and 0-0 at home to Bristol City.
Fifteen points and fifteen places separate the clubs. Graham Alexander replaced Paul Heckingbottom at Deepdale on 28 September, two weeks after the sacking, and he has one draw and three defeats from his four league games. The draw came last Saturday, 1-1 at home to West Brom.
Preston did win the most recent meeting, 3-1 at Deepdale in March. The one before that, on 26 December 2025, was a goalless draw at Stoke.
The home win is priced at 1.73, the draw at 3.75 and Preston at 4.50. I think 1.73 is fair for a side in the top ten playing the division’s weakest attack and weakest defence. Adam Herczeg is the referee at the bet365 Stadium.
Stoke City: five of six league wins by a single goal, and two clean sheets running 
Robins has built a side that wins narrowly. Five of Stoke’s six league wins have come by one goal: 1-0 against Norwich, 2-1 at Watford, 2-1 against Sheffield United, 2-1 at Bolton and 1-0 at Derby.
The exception was a 4-0 win over Charlton on 5 September. It’s the only league game this season in which Stoke have scored more than twice.
At home they’ve won three, drawn one and lost two, scoring ten and conceding six with three clean sheets. The two defeats came against Swansea on the opening weekend, 2-1, and Middlesbrough on 13 October, 3-2.
Ethan Galbraith leads the scoring with three league goals. He joined from Swansea on 1 July for a reported £10m, and Soumare, signed from Braga in June, is expected to start next to him again.
Eric Bocat and Sam Gallagher are both ruled out, Lamine Cisse is expected to miss the game and Ato Ampah is also unavailable. Ben Johnson, on loan from Ipswich since 21 August, should continue at wing-back.
Robins had named the same starting eleven for three games running before Bocat was ruled out. That stability shows at the back: Stoke have kept four clean sheets in 12 league games, two of them in their last two.
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Preston North End: no away win, no clean sheet and seven league games without a victory 
Preston have played six league games away from Deepdale and lost five of them. The only point came in a 2-2 draw at QPR on 19 September, and the road record reads five goals scored, 15 conceded.
The last two away trips were the worst of it. Preston have conceded 2.5 goals per away game, and over 2.5 goals has landed in five of their six league trips. Alexander’s side lost 4-0 at Birmingham on 13 October, finishing with ten men, and 4-1 at Wrexham four days later.
They haven’t kept a clean sheet in any league game this season. Their only win came on 5 September, 2-1 at home to Blackburn, and Callum Lang scored both goals.
Lang is still the top scorer with three. Johnny Kenny, signed from Celtic on 1 September, has two, and Alfie Devine, bought from Tottenham on 7 July for £6m, is expected to play behind the front two. Milutin Osmajic, who scored against Stoke in March, was sold to Genoa on 24 August.
Liam Gibbs, Ali McCann and Harry Clarke are all out, McCann without a game since late August, and Caleb Wiley is a doubt after nearing a return last week.
The expected shape is a back three of Offiah, Storey and Hughes with Mills and Vukcevic as wing-backs. In four league games under Alexander, Preston have scored twice and conceded ten.
Probable lineup Stoke City: Johansson; Wilmot, Lawal, Graham; Johnson, Soumare, Galbraith, Bombino; McGlynn, Hirst, Devenny
Probable lineup Preston North End: Iversen; Offiah, Storey, Hughes; Mills, Leroy, Potts, Vukcevic; Devine; Kenny, Lang
Free Football Prediction: Stoke City vs Preston North End
Our prediction: Stoke City to win (odds 1.73)
I’d back Stoke. Preston have lost five of six away games, conceded 15 on the road and gone 12 league matches without a clean sheet. Stoke have kept the last two and lost once in six.
The head-to-head is the honest case against: eight league visits to Stoke without defeat for Preston and four straight clean sheets at this ground. None of those Preston sides arrived bottom with one win from 12, and the striker who scored against Stoke in March now plays in Genoa.
Stoke at 1.73 is the bet I’d make. Their wins have been tight all season, so I wouldn’t stretch to a handicap, and 1-0 or 2-0 is the score I expect.
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