Stoke City vs Sheffield United - prediction, team news, lineups

Stoke City will aim to make it five games unbeaten and continue their climb up the Championship table on Saturday, when they welcome Sheffield United to the Bet365 Stadium.

The hosts have won three of their last four matches to sit 10th, while their visitors suffered a league defeat last weekend and a midweek EFL Cup exit.

Stoke City head into the weekend with the hopes of continuing a hot streak in the Championship, having quickly bounced back from a poor start to 2026-27.

Beginning their first full season under Mark Robins with the hopes of finally kicking on, having finished 14th or lower in all eight of their second-tier campaigns since Premier League relegation in 2018, it took them four games to put their first points on the board.

The Potters started with league defeats to Swansea City, Southampton and Wolves, conceding nine goals in those games and only scoring three, but they appear to have found their groove since, firstly beating Norwich City and Charlton Athletic 1-0 and 4-0 respectively at home.

Then on the back of a 1-1 draw away at Cardiff City, Robins's side visited Watford last weekend and left with all three points, having gone 2-0 up through Jack McGlynn and Eric Bocat and held on for a 2-1 triumph after Amin Nabizada pulled one back for the hosts in injury time.

With confidence now growing in the group and momentum behind them, Stoke City return to the Bet365 Stadium, the site of consecutive wins and clean sheets in early September, aiming to continue their run which has already seen them move up to 10th spot.

Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip on Saturday aiming to make a return to winning ways and kickstart a first consistent run of the season after a difficult start.

Heading into their third straight Championship season after a playoff final loss in 2025 and a disappointing mid-table finish last term, Sheffield United have again been slow out of the blocks, sitting 15th with nine points on the board from seven games having won two and lost two of those.

After going unbeaten in their first six matches, including two EFL Cup wins, Chris Wilder's side have now lost three of their last four games in all competitions, firstly suffering a 3-1 home defeat to Norwich City before they bounced back last week in a trip to Blackburn Rovers with a win.

Wolves visited Bramall Lane on Sunday, and the Blades looked set to take a point from a goalless draw, only for Raul Jimenez's injury-time goal to snatch all three for the visitors, before they most recently visited fourth-tier Fleetwood Town for an EFL Cup tie on Wednesday and dropped out in a disappointing 1-0 defeat with Rhys Norrington-Davies's own goal making the only difference.

Left frustrated having yet to find any consistency so far this season in their bid to challenge for promotion back to the top flight, Sheffield United head to Stoke in search of a statement away win to get truly up and running.

Sheffield United form (all competitions):

Stoke City may be unchanged from their latest victory over Watford, with Bosun Lawal and Sam Gallagher likely continuing to miss out through injury while Aaron Cresswell and Svante Ingelsson are confined to the treatment room with longer-term issues.

George Hirst will hope to earn a start up front, but Robins may stick with Lamine Cisse in a front three with summer arrivals Justin Devenny, who scored a brace on debut against Charlton, and Jack McGlynn, who netted his first Potters goal in last week's win.

Elsewhere, fellow new arrivals Ethan Galbraith and former Sheffield United man Djibril Soumare have formed an impressive midfield partnership, while Eric Bocat remains a threat on the left-hand side in a wing-back role with two goals and two assists to his name in the Championship so far this term.

Sheffield United are set to remain without defenders Femi Seriki and Harrison Burrows, midfielder Tahith Chong and forward Tyrese Campbell due to injuries, while Sam McCallum also missed the trip to Fleetwood after picking up a knock against Wolves.

In the likely absence of Burrows and McCallum, Rhys Norrington-Davies should continue to deputise at left-back, while Wilder will make plenty of changes elsewhere after midweek rotations in the cup.

Liam Kitching and Hamza Choudhury should both return in defence, while Sydie Peck and Kalvin Phillips may displace Joe Rothwell and Jairo Riedewald in midfield and Patrick Bamford could come back in from the outset up top.

Johansson; Wilmot, Talovierov, Graham; Johnson, Soumare, Galbraith, Bocat; McGlynn, Cisse, Devenny

Sheffield United possible starting lineup:

Cooper; Tanganga, McGuinness, Kitching; Choudhury, Peck, Phillips, Norrington-Davies; Donovan, Bamford, Brereton Diaz

Sheffield United are yet to get going this season, while Stoke City are seemingly improving as their new group continues to gel with plenty of momentum growing in the camp.

We fancy the Potters to make it five games unbeaten and four wins from those five with home advantage on their side at the weekend.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Get FREE daily news and in-depth previews for games from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football — straight to your inbox.