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Steffen Schmidt - February 26, 2023
Stoke City vs Brighton
English FA Cup
Date: 28 February 2023, Tuesday
Kick-off at 19:15 UK / 20:15 CET
Venue: bet365 Stadium (Stoke-on-Trent).
Brighton will be looking to return to winning ways on Tuesday evening when they visit bet365 Stadium for the FA Cup fifth round tie against Championship side Stoke City.
The Seagulls took just one point in the previous two top-flight affairs against Crystal Palace and Fulham.
It was indeed an underwhelming return for Roberto De Zerbi’s troops who certainly deserved much more from these two games.
The Seagulls were the better side on the pitch against both Palace and Fulham but they failed to convert numerous clear-cut openings on the occasion.
Brighton still occupy the high 7th place in the Premier League standings. They are certainly the favorites on Tuesday, especially after having a rest at the weekend due to the fact their league clash against Newcastle got postponed.
Stoke, on the other hand, had to face the likes of Millwall on Saturday afternoon, meaning this is only a three-day turnaround against such a strong opposition for them.
The Potters are miles away from the promotional battle in the Championship this season, currently holding the 17th position in the table.
However, Alex Neil’s men have shown some improvements in attacking displays of late, netting three goals in two of the last three league matches against Huddersfield and Swansea respectively.
Brighton play attacking-minded football under De Zerbi and we fancy their chances here against the lower-division opposition. Since Stoke have shown attacking improvements of their own lately, we will take the Over 2.5 goals FT bet at the 1.80 odds.
The value pick would be Kaoru Mitoma to score anytime for the visitors at the attractive 3.00 odds. The Japanese winger is an inevitable part of De Zerbi’s starting XI at the moment and he has 5 goals in 17 appearances in the Premier League this term.
