Are Stoke Doomed?

The bookmakers tend to price up all the newly promoted teams as favourites for relegation before the ice in the champagne buckets has even melted. But perhaps one of the more established Premier League sides may be peril in 2013-14.

Stoke City are a best price 3/1 for the drop with PaddyPower and that looks long when you consider the following:

If the season had started on 1 January then Stoke would have finished last.

The Potters’ record since the turn of the year is dismal. P18 W3 D4 L11 Pts 13. The final standings have Stoke in the relative security of 13th spot but that is entirely down to a decent showing in the first half of the campaign; Pulis’s boys sat within 2 points of Arsenal on Boxing Day.

Only relegated QPR scored fewer league goals.

Stoke found the net only 34 times in 38 league outings at an average of 0.89 per game. In 29 matches they scored one goal or less which put enormous pressure on the defence to get results. This isn’t exactly a one-off either. In 2011-12 the Potters ranked last for goals scored with an average of 0.97 per game.

Stoke had fewer shots than anybody else in the division.

The feeble goal tally isn’t a fluke. It can’t be explained by strikers missing a hatful of chances. The Potters ranked rock bottom of the league for shots per game (10.2) and shots on target per game (3).

Tony Pulis may be on his way out.

The man responsible for both getting Stoke to the Premier League and keeping them up for five seasons since has an uncertain future. Rumours abound that the club are seeking a new direction with a more attractive style of play. If Pulis leaves, the Potters may entertain more neutrals, but it could well be en route to the Championship.