Stoke City vs Birmingham City- Team news, predicted line-ups, how to watch, who to watch

Stoke City come into this fixture off the back of Carabao Cup success, beating Birmingham's midlands rivals, Aston Villa, 1-0 on Thursday to progress into the quarter-finals where the Potters will face Tottenham Hotspur.

Birmingham managed to rescue a point in their last fixture, with Jérémie Bela netting a 90th-minute penalty to secure a 1-1 draw for the Blues against newly-promoted Rotherham United.

Managers thoughts

Both managers will be looking for a strong performance from their players to maintain steady league starts.

Stoke manager Michael O'Neill spoke with admiration after Thursday's cup victory, praising his outfit's discipline.

He said: “The shape of the team was excellent and when we were asked to defend in the latter stages of the game we did that extremely well. We created a lot of good opportunities, had some very good chances, scored a very good goal and picked up another clean sheet.”

Birmingham City head coach, Aitor Karanka was disappointed after last week's clash against Rotherham and insisted that his team needs to improve everywhere on the pitch, despite maintaining an unbeaten start.

He said: ''We need to improve in every single area, I think if you want to improve as a team you need to improve every single day.

"Now we are improving especially in our commitment and consistency, but now it is true we have to win games and last Saturday we had a lot of chances to score two or three goals.

"I think that is the way we have to improve, try to score those goals."

Team news

Birmingham have no new injury concerns, but winger Jonathan Leko has returned to training after a lengthy absence away with an ACL injury.

As for Stoke, midfielder Tom Ince isn't ready to be called into the matchday squad, while Harry Souttar and Nathan Collins could keep their places after an impressive display midweek.

Predicted lineups

Stoke City: Davies, Chester, Martins-Indi, Souttar, Smith, Clucas, Mikel, Powell, Fox, Fletcher, Campbell

Birmingham City: Etheridge, Pedersen, Friend, Dean, Colin, Clayton, Sujnic, Bela, Toral, Sánchez, Jutkiewicz

Ones to watch

Stoke City

Sam Clucas: In the last meeting between the two sides, Clucas played a pivotal role in Stoke's 2-0 victory in July, pushing Stoke away from any relegation fears in the process.

Clucas has the ability to bridge the gap between midfield and attack, and the attacking midfielder may prove to be too hot to handle for the Birmingham backline.

Confidence will be high in the Stoke camp and he will be looking to shine against the Blues once again.

Birmingham City

Adam Clayton: Birmingham have been resolute in the midfield so far this season and this is due to the new addition of Clayton.

The defensive midfielder is one of many new additions to Birmingham this window, and Clayton adds experience to the midfield.

Karanka previously managed him during his time with Middlesbrough, and the pair have helped Birmingham add grittiness which was missing at times last season.

This game will be decided in the midfield and he will have to be focused to intercept any passing play from Stoke's attacking midfielders.