Stoke City have two great tests of any play-off credentials this week as they travel to Watford and Reading.

The 1-0 win over Rotherham puts Stoke in eighth place but points out sixth-placed Watford, who play Wednesday before a trip to the Reading League leaders next weekend.

Two games that best compliment the wider world of Stoke moving to another international break at this season’s championship.

Michael O’Neill said: “They will, but last week we were here in Brentford, we won, we played in the middle of Swansea week and lost. That is the nature of the top end teams in the league.

“Reading got off to a good start. Watford may have matched up a bit after coming out of the championship, which gives us a chance to see where we are. They are tough games but ready to play. ”

Here you can read a full interview with Michael O’Neill as he looks at how Stoke ranks in the league at this point in the season.

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What happened to Nathan Jones’ last stock to start XI?

Only one Stoke player from the last team sheet of Nathan Jones started the weekend, a year before Jones left.

What happened to the rest? Well, you have to ask interesting …

You can find it here.

Watford v Stoke City: Pre-match Trivia

• Watford have conceded just three goals in their last eight league games against Stoke, failing to score in these six encounters (W1D3L4).
• Stoke City have won six of their last eight league trips to Vicarage Road (D1L1), winning by one goal each of their previous three.
• Watford went on to win four of their last five home league games in a season, returning in 2014-15, and finally being promoted to the Premier League (so far this season P4W 3D1).
• Despite losing the last game (2-0) to Swansea, Stoke have lost just one of their last six away league games (W3D2).
• This is the third consecutive meeting between Watford and Stoke. Both sides have different managers (Marco Silva, Xavi Gracia, Vladimir Ivic for Watford, Mark Hughes, Paul Lambert and Michael O’Neill for stock).

The day Arsene Wenger began to hate Stoke

It has been 12 years since Stoke and Arsenal renewed their acquaintances in the Premier League.

It was fun.

Lots of interesting things to look back on here.

Stock City fan rates so far

Despite missing Joe Allen, Ryan Shakrose, Sam Clucas, Nathan Collins and James Chester with injuries, Stoke finished eighth in a 1-0 win over Rotherham.

How do supporters – online, radio and TV – rate the first weeks of 2020/21 when the competition is behind closed doors?

So far we have asked you to give it a mark of 10, and here is a selection of responses.

Including one from Paul Jeffrey: “I want to see games this season. As a stock fan for the last few years, it’s been very difficult – now we’ve been returning to a team we want to play for.