Features
Away days: Stoke City
Written by Rory Mitchinson
Rafa Benitez’s Magpies will see in the New Year with a trip to the Potteries. Continuing our series, we take a closer look at the bet365 Stadium…
Club: Stoke City
Stadium: bet365 Stadium
Capacity: 30,183
Distance from St. James’ Park: 193 miles
Previous Premier League visits: Seven (One win, one draw, five defeats)
Stoke’s bet365 Stadium – formerly known as the Britannia Stadium – has been far from a happy hunting ground for United in the past. Their only win came in October 2011, when Senegalese frontman Demba Ba netted a hat-trick to take the Magpies up to third in the Premier League. Otherwise, however, they have struggled. Their last four visits have all ended in defeat, each of those coming by a single goal.
Newcastle were beaten 1-0 on their last trip to the Potteries, a result which proved costly in their fight against the drop. Xherdan Shaqiri provided the game’s pivotal moment ten minutes from time.
It has just gone 20 years since Stoke moved to the bet365 Stadium from the Victoria Ground, which was – at the time – the oldest ground in the Football League.
At present, work is underway on the construction of a new corner section at the bet365 Stadium, a £6m project set to be completed before the start of the 2017/18 campaign. Once finished, the ground’s capacity will increase by 1,800 seats.