Stoke City team news vs Sheffield United as Narcis Pelach makes most changes yet
Narcis Pelach is expected to switch to a back three as he makes five changes to the Stoke City starting XI against Sheffield United.
Wouter Burger passes a fitness test to return in central midfield while centre-back Ashley Phillips makes his first start since Pelach joined as head coach last month. Junior Tchamadeu is back in at right wing-back and Enda Stevens gets the nod on the left.
Bae Junho drops out as well as Jordan Thompson, Michael Rose and Eric Bocat and it will be interesting to see at 3pm how the midfield takes shape in what could be a 3-4-3 system. We are reporting live from Bramall Lane here.
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Viktor Johansson is in goal behind a probable back line of Ben Wilmot, Ben Gibson and Phillips, with Stevens on the left and Tchamadeu on the right. Burger and Andrew Moran will be in the middle of midfield while Lewis Koumas and Million Manhoef will flank Tom Cannon up front.
Pelach has tried to be consistent with selection but this is a testing period of fixtures for Stoke, having drawn with Bristol City in the league last Tuesday and with Southampton to come away this Tuesday.
The head coach said in his pre-match press conference: "There are a lot of games in the Championship and there’s a big trip in the cup on Tuesday away to Southampton. We will need to freshen up at some point. If it’s not at the weekend it will need to be against Southampton.
"But the team did really well in the last rounds in the cup with young players and it will probably be a chance for them to show what they are capable of. We need to be very clever in the line-ups we do because we cannot risk injuries, we have to try to keep the squad as healthy as we can. At the moment the most important thing for us is the Championship and we need to make steps in the Championship."
Tyrese Campbell and Harry Souttar both start for Sheffield United.
Stoke: Johansson, Wilmot, Phillips, Gibson, Tchamadeu, Stevens, Burger, Moran, Manhoef, Koumas, Cannon. Subs: Bonham, Rose, Bocat, Seko, Thompson, Junho, Vidigal, Ennis Tezgel.
Sheff Utd: Cooper. Gilchrist, Arblaster, Souttar, Moore, O'Hare, Ruk-sakyi, Burrows, Ahmedhodzic, Souza, Campbell. Subs: Faxon, McCallum, Brewster, Shackleton, Robinson, Brooks, Seriki, One, Peck.