Bristol City boss names Stoke City’s danger men ahead of Championship clash

Stoke City are a team in form whilst Bristol City are the opposite - and now Nigel Pearson has identified their danger men.
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Nigel Pearson has identified two Stoke City players that could cause Bristol City problems in their Good Friday clash.

The Robins travel to the bet365 Stadium in search of their first win in three matches after winning just once in their last seven matches. Stoke are a side in form and are unbeaten in their last five matches, with convincing wins over Sunderland and Coventry City.

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Alex Neil has already beaten City twice this season, first as manager of the Black Cats in August, and then in December when his Stoke side beat City 2-1 at Ashton Gate. It’s close between the two teams in the table with Stoke a place higher and with two more points on the board.

Pearson, who had a spell as assistant manager at the Staffordshire club, has identified two players that could cause his side problems. Former Manchester United forward Nick Powell, who made a return from injury last week as well as on-loan Southampton midfielder Will Smallbone.

"They’re in a good run, one of the form teams," he said. "They’re one point ahead of us. It’s always a tough game when you go there.

"The game we played just after the World Cup break was a disappointment for us in terms of how we conceded on that day. We caused ourselves a few problems.

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"They’re our next opponents so we want to try to win the game to finish the season as well as possible but it’ll be a difficult game because they’ve got some good players.

“Powell (Nick) has come back into the side up top and he presents a different type of threat, Smallbone (Will) who plays just behind is a creative player. They’ve got some good energy in midfield too.

"It’s a game in which we’ll certainly have our chances if we go there with a positive intent to do the type of job we want to do on them."

Bristol City have struggled on their travels as of late, and have not scored a goal on their travels since the 1-1 draw with Sunderland on February 18. They have since drawn blanks against Cardiff City, Huddersfield, Luton Town and Swansea City.

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City will not have Alex Scott, Kal Naismith or Tomas Kalas to call on as all three are unavailable as they recover from an injury. Tommy Conway - who scored against Reading - could have his minutes closely monitored after only playing an hour last weekend.

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