Stoke vs Bournemouth isn’t the most glamourous game on telly this weekend, but in the greater scheme of things, it is a very important one. The Potters have not managed to win a single league game so far and are sitting in the relegation zone- only the North East duo of Newcastle and Sunderland have fared worse among the 20 teams that constitute the Premiership.
Manager Mark Hughes is already feeling the heat, with questions being asked of how a team boasting the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan, Marko Arnautovic, Mame Diouf and Glen Johnson is floundering so badly. Is Hughes being tactically inept? Has he been able to get the best out of his marquee foreign signings? Have his subs been on point?
Stoke have taken a grand sum of a single point from their games against Norwich (away), West Brom and Leicester (both home)- all three fixtures they would have expected to win at the beginning of the season.
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