Stoke & Staffordshire

Image source, Opta

In-form Stoke City will hope to pick up their seventh Championship win in nine games when they host Bristol City on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 15:00 BST).

The Potters bounced back from a narrow late defeat to Middlesbrough with a 1-0 win at Derby County last time out and start the weekend within three points of the automatic promotion places.

Meanwhile, the 16th-placed Robins have won just one of their past six games (D1 L4) and have only scored three goals in that time.

• After a run of five successive defeats between January 2019 and April 2023, Stoke City are unbeaten in their previous three home league games against Bristol City (W2 D1).

• After winning their most recent league game against Stoke City, Bristol City will be looking for successive wins in this fixture for the first time since April 2022.

• Stoke have won six of their past eight league games (D1 L1), with only West Ham United (20) collecting more points than the Potters in the Championship since the start of September (19).

• Bristol City have lost their past two league games by 1-0 scorelines, they haven't lost three in a row without scoring since February 2021 (run of four).

• Ethan Galbraith has assisted in three of his past four league games for Stoke, while he leads the Potters this season for league goal involvements (6).

Tim Durrans
BBC Sport England

Burton Albion defender Toby Sibbick says Tuesday's home draw with high-flying Bradford City was a good marker of the team's improvement.

Their visitors arrived as early League One leaders, while the Brewers are enjoying their best start to a campaign for five seasons.

The 0-0 draw gives Gary Bowyer's side 14 points from 12 games leaving them 14th, just four points outside the top six. They amassed 16 points at this stage under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2021-22.

"It was a good point at the end of the day," Sibbick told BBC Radio Derby.

"They ask questions of the defence and stick it on you. They're really good at set-pieces, and I thought we did really well, so overall it's a great point.

"Everyone is buying into it this season, and it's going well. We probably could have picked up a few more points along the way, but that's football."

Bowyer arrived in December 2024 with Burton nine points adrift of safety after just two wins from their opening 20 league games.

He kept them in the division, pulling off what was described as "a miracle", then guiding Burton to survival by a single point in 2025-26, and overseeing further improvement with a 17th-placed finish last season.

Sibbick says the team are starting to feel comfortable in what they are being asked to do as they bid to continue that upward trajectory.

"The staff have been really good with us this season," he added. "They've given us the freedom to play and get into good positions to show our talents.

"It starts from us at the back having the bravery to get on the ball, and give it to the forward players and hopefully they can work their magic."

Next up for the Brewers is a home game with fellow mid-table side Leyton Orient and Sibbick accepts one league win so far at the Pirelli Stadium is not good enough.

"I think that's something we need to start doing, winning more at home," he admitted. "We need to make this place tough to come.

"It's been a decent start for us, but we want to improve on it, and start climbing up the table, not looking behind us."

Image source, Shutterstock

Stoke City centre-back Luke Graham said the squad will continue to "not look back" after turning round their difficult start to the Championship season in emphatic style.

The Potters began the league campaign with three defeats but have bounced back superbly with a run of six wins in their past eight games, with their only loss coming in added time against Middlesbrough.

That run has taken Mark Robins' side up to sixth place after 11 matches, as the club target a successful bid for promotion back to the Premier League after what would be nine years.

Summer signing Graham, 22, has been an increasingly impressive presence in Stoke's new-look back three and scored his first goal for the club in the 1-0 win at Derby on Saturday.

"For all the signings it was going to take a bit of time to adjust, especially having the system and coming in a few games after the [start of the] season, but as a group we adapted to that instantly really and I think we've not looked back since," Graham told BBC Radio Stoke.

"It's just about keeping that going, keeping my feet on the ground and knowing that I've still got to work hard because I've not made it, yet I've still got a long way to go in my career."

Since Robins switched to three central defenders after their 4-1 defeat by Wolves at the end of August, the Boro loss is the only blemish for Stoke, who have beaten Norwich, Charlton, Watford, Sheffield United and Bolton - the latter with 10 men - and drawn at Cardiff.

"That shows the kind of characters we've got in the dressing room," Graham said.

"It's real tight, there's a togetherness, it's like a big family so we know going into any game we're going to fight throughout.

"We've faced a lot of different styles of football and I think we've handled the role in just about every game, so it's just about keeping that consistency and not getting too far ahead of ourselves.

"We're loving it at the minute, the way that we're playing and the way that we're battling for each other."

Image source, Getty Images

Burton Albion midfielder Harvey Araujo says they must move on positively from the disappointment of their "chaotic" draw with Peterborough United.

The Brewers take on Bradford City at home on Tuesday after seeing their last-minute lead against the Posh slip when Robbie Savage's side grabbed a point with a 96th-minute equaliser in their 2-2 draw.

After falling behind to Owura Edwards' second-minute opener, Charlie Webster levelled for Burton who then looking like they had won it in the 89th minute when Gbemi Arubi spotted Posh goalkeeper Alex Bass off his line and lobbed him from inside the centre circle.

But Matt Garbett equalised deep in stoppage time to trigger wild home celebrations and deny Burton a fourth win of the season.

"It was pretty chaotic," Araujo told BBC Radio Derby.

"Very end-to-end stuff and a game I felt we should have gone home with three points.

"[It's] very disappointing but we just have to move on quickly."

Araujo, who played his first full game since suffering a knee injury in March before his summer move from Colchester, said the frantic nature of the match does give them something to work on.

"We could learn from this game and from a defensive point of view just have that composure and that control over certain games like this - whenever it's hectic, just to have a control on our side of things."