Some people reckon that it’s downhill all the way from here. Not me. Look at the games we have coming up and you’d have to be confident that at Christmas we’d be more or less where we are now, or (whisper it) possibly even higher. We now have a run of eight games which we should be looking to take at least 16 points from, if not more. OK, it’s a big ask to keep this kind of form going, but why not? It’s only overconfidence that can beat us, and maybe I am displaying some of that at the moment.
Stoke is always a bugger of a place to go and it’s never easy, but with both Robert Huth and Peter Crouch injured, it may be a good time to play them. They haven’t had the greatest of starts and have had some very unpredictable results.
The big question is whether Diafra Sakho will be fit to play. I’d say if there was the slightest doubt about his fitness he should be rested. I’d be gutted if that were the case, but we have to think of the long term. It’s not as if he can’t be replaced by pushing Amalfitano further up front or bringing in Carlton Cole. Stoke are a very very physical side, so Carlton may be our best bet. I think a front two of him and Enner Valencia might be quite juicy, with Valencia running onto Carlton’s knockdowns. Unfortunately it seems Zarate has a thigh strain, otherwise he’d be a third option to replace Sakho.
James Tomkins remains unfit, so we are told, so I don’t expect the back four to change. In midfield it would be astonishing is Kouyate isn’t brought back, which would be tough on Amalfitano as he would be the one most likely to make way. Surely a midfield of Song, Noble and Kouyate is the toughest midfield we have had in years?
COYI!
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