Coventry City vs Stoke City predictions: Play-off-hunting hosts good for more goals
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- Coventry have won their last four games
- Stoke have won just one of their last six in all competitions
- Recommended bet: Over 1.5 Coventry goals
Coventry's superb run of form under Frank Lampard has got them in serious contention for the play-offs in the Championship and they can maintain their late push for a top-six place by seeing off struggling Stoke – who have former Sky Blues boss Mark Robins in charge – on Saturday.
Lampard's side are up to fifth following recent wins over QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Preston and Oxford and they can make it five victories on the spin this weekend.
The Potters, in contrast, remain in relegation danger as they sit down in 20th, just five points clear of the bottom three, but worryingly for Robins' side they have only won one of their last eight league games and are not playing well at the worst time of the season.
Team news
Coventry duo Haji Wright and Ben Sheaf both came off the bench in last week's win at Oxford after recovering from injury, and are pushing for starts against Stoke.
Victor Torp is expected to return to the squad this weekend after missing the last three games and the hosts could have pretty much a clean bill of health for the clash.
Stoke still have plenty of injury concerns, though. The visitors are set to be without Lewis Baker, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Ben Gibson, Lynden Gooch, Souleymane Sidibe and Ryan Mmaee but Wouter Burger is at least closing in on a return to action and could feature.
The stats
Stoke's only victory in their last eight Championship games came against Swansea at home in mid-February.
The Potters have won just three times on the road in the second tier all season.
Coventry have won four of their last five home league matches, with their only defeat in that spell coming against leaders Leeds United.
The Potters did win the reverse fixture at home, though, 1-0 in August.
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Prediction
Lampard has made a much-better impact at Coventry than plenty of his detractors were suggesting when the former Chelsea, Derby and Everton boss was appointed as Robins' successor at the end of November.
The former England star has won 11 of his 20 matches in charge of the Sky Blues and he will be confident of improving his win ratio further this weekend.
Four wins on the trot mean Coventry are very much in the play-off picture and he looks set to emulate Robins' feat of guiding the club into the top six – something the now-Stoke manager did in 2023 during his second spell at the Sky Blues' helm.
That year, Robins' side were just spot-kicks away from going up to the Premier League and this is sure to be an emotional return to the Coventry Building Society Arena for the 55-year-old, who in total had eight years in charge of the West Midlands outfit.
However, it is set to be a miserable reunion with his former club as Stoke do not look anywhere near good enough at present to hurt the hosts.
Coventry have scored at least two goals in six of their last nine games and they can do so again against a hapless Stoke, who are averaging conceding two per game recently, having shipped 10 in their last five in the second tier.
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