After some blistering recent form, Norwich seem all but unstoppable right now, so the only thing that can prevent us from coming away from Stoke with three points is surely some awful luck.

Well, fortunately for Narcis Pelach I will be at the Bet365 on Saturday, and in my last three away trips, Norwich have conspired to lose 3-1, 5-1 and 3-0. So if anything can derail the recent positivity, I reckon I?m it.

Stoke are difficult to predict at the moment as, with Pelach experimenting to see how he can get the best out of the squad he inherited, he?s tinkering with personnel and formations.

Unlike Johannes Hoff Thorup – who arrived pre-season and so had time to instil his preferred system and bring in players to complement it – Pelach arrived at Stoke at a time when he could no longer buy players and had no time to make sweeping changes. As a result, he?s having to make do and mend with what he has – a massive challenge for any new manager.
So far under the Spaniard, Stoke have played four games, losing 3-1 at home against Hull and 2-0 away against Middlesbrough, before a 6-1 demolition of Portsmouth and a 0-0 draw at Swansea. In the first two games, he played a more conservative 4-4-1-1 with the emphasis more on solidity than chance creation, before moving to a 4-4-2 against Portsmouth and Swansea, so I?d expect that to be the more likely formation tomorrow.

Given how well Pelach knows Thorup?s tactical preferences, however, he may go another w...