Stoke City and Newcastle United are playing live on the Barclays English Premier League schedule on Monday from Britannia Stadium and the game starts up at 3 pm ET from NBC on the NBC Sports Network and NBCSN Live Extra as the two teams matchup for the first time this season for the last game of the EPL week.
Stoke and Newcastle will play again in February and that will be a trip to Newcastle after playing at the Britannia Stadium and this game has both teams looking to move up in the standings. Both teams are near the bottom and Stoke comes in just ahead of the relegation spots, while Newcastle has been playing poorly and they have just three points this season. Chelsea is leading the EPL and these teams will be looking for points, as Newcastle has not yet won a game this year and Stoke has one win and two draws for their points.
Stoke midfielder Jonathan Walters could sit out of the matchup and Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse could make it into the game depending on how he is feeling leading up to game time. Newcastle has been under pressure to get things going and Mike Ashley knows how that feels and they will be looking to at least get a point from this matchup. The Premier League is moving out of September and into October, so slow starts and getting into the swing of things will no longer cut it as an excuse.
Stoke has been strong at home in the past and they have already lost two games at home this year and that came after the team lost just three times all last year at Britannia. Stoke has been very inconsistent this season and that is shown in the win against Manchester City away compared to those games at home. Man City of course won the title last year and that win was big for the team. Stoke and Newcastle are meeting for the 11th time and each of the teams have four wins and two draws played out in the other matchups.
Stoke has won three times in the last four chances against Newcastle in the Premier League at home and that gives them the advantage on Monday night. Newcastle has only been able to win once at Britannia in the Premier League and funny enough, the game happened on a Monday night as well. Stoke knows that relegation is a possibility and they have made their bones staying up top with strong play at home, since so many away matches are tough with teams like Chelsea and Arsenal in the EPL.
Stoke has now lost both league games at home and they have not scored at home either and that puts more pressure on the team ahead of this matchup. The last three times the team has played on a Monday the score has gone 1-1 and Newcastle has not won yet this season on the schedule. Newcastle has not done great on the Monday matches, allowing 12 goals in the last four losses.
Check here for the Stoke City and Newcastle United live coverage.
