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Stoke did what they had to do against an Oldham side that acquitted themselves well throughout in their Carabao Cup tie.
Viktor Johansson made several good saves behind a back four still coming together as a unit following Luke Graham’s arrival to replace Ashley Phillips and in the absence of injured Junior Tchamadeu and Aaron Cresswell.
The midfield has seen three new arrivals and remains a work in progress too,
Everything about this game screamed April.
The wind blew a gale while the sun shone and the rain poured and a huge rainbow wrapped around the stadium.
Amongst all of that Stoke played a game that felt meaningless but did shine a light on how much there is to address this summer.
Of the team that started, Gavin Bazunu, Ashley Phillips and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi are on loan, Lewis Baker is
Goals from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Lamine Cisse helped Stoke City to victory over Sheffield Wednesday at the bet365 Stadium.
Sorba Thomas was the hosts’ standout man throughout, setting up the opener and playing a key role in the second.
It was a dominant performance overall, and they were hardly threatened by bottom side Wednesday.
The Potters remain in mid-table, 10 points off the play-offs, while Sheffield Wednesday have only won
Million Manhoef’s brace helped Stoke return to winning ways with a comfortable victory at home to Watford.
Manhoef opened the scoring in the 28th minute, finishing calmly after Milan Smit teed him up perfectly.
The winger doubled Stoke’s lead in the second half, firing a powerful effort past keeper Egil Selvik following a counter-attack.
Nestory Irankunda briefly gave Watford hope with a fierce strike from the right, but Sam Gallagher
Ben Nelson’s looping header came back off the bar and, in the final action of a gripping second half, Luke Thomas somehow hit the foot of the post with a point-blank header.
A positive Leicester result never looked on the cards after a one-sided first half which saw them fall behind within 150 seconds of Rowett taking his seat in the dugout when some inconclusive defending at a corner ended
At full-time at The Valley it finally felt as though Stoke City’s promotion dream had begun to slip away irretrievably.
You could see it in the body language of the players, heads bowed and shoulders slumped.
You could hear it in the frustration in the voices of Steven Nzonzi and his manager Mark Robins.
You could feel it emanating from an away end full of fans who have grown to
Stoke City have announced forward Andre Vidigal has left the Championship club by mutual consent.
The 27-year-old Angola international joined the Potters from Portuguese side Maritimo before the start of the 2023-24 season on a three-year contract.
Vidigal went on to make 43 appearances for Stoke – and scored seven times – but has not played a league game since December 2024.
His last appearance for Stoke was against
Stoke are revived and, after losing seven of their final 10 games of 2025, they have won their first two games of the new year away from home without conceding.
The Potters have a long injury list and Ben Gibson was added to it before kick-off to rob them off their last left-back.
They had the better of the opening exchanges and Mubama saw a shot deflected over, while Lamine
Stoke have lost a significant amount of momentum, with six defeats in their past nine games, and there was frustration inside the ground at the final whistle after another home game delivered so little.
Preston, whose manager Heckingbottom was watching from the stands as he served a touchline suspension, had the better of the early chances, with Thierry Small’s effort at the end of a lovely flowing move smothered brilliantly
The close games Stoke were winning during the first quarter of the season have now turned into defeats.
They were decent in possession and worth a point at Watford but got nothing and again looked relatively blunt in attack.
Stoke face a couple of big home games between Christmas and New Year as they try to enter 2026 in the Championship’s top six but to do that they’ll have to