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Steven Schumacher has made five changes to his Stoke City starting XI at Sunderland in response to last weekend’s home defeat. Ben Wilmot and Lynden Gooch are restored to defence in place of Luke McNally and Ki-Jana Hoever while it is a whole new forward line with Tyrese Campbell in the middle, flanked by Mehdi Leris and Sead Haksabanovic. Bae Junho slips back into midfield in place of Lewis Baker. This is Wilmot’s first league start since injuring his knee in early October while Gooch, having recovered from a calf injury, is recalled against his old club. He partners Michael Rose in the middle of a back four.

Campbell makes his first start since scoring at Plymouth in early December and Leris starts in the league for the first time since suffering concussion in Schumacher’s first game in charge, against Millwall just before Christmas. Haksabanovic sat out last weekend against Birmingham but had started the previous Saturday’s win at Rotherham. Schumacher, who was encouraged by Stoke’s performance against Birmingham, said in his pre-match press conference: “Results are the most important thing, but I believe the best way to get the results is to play attacking football so they can go hand in hand as long as you’re organised on the ball, as long as you’re not careless and doing things in your own half and not taking too many risks, then it’s fine.

“I think it’s important that we commit to our attacking style, because I believe it gives us the best chance of winning, but also it’s kind of what the fans want to pay the money for. So that’s what we’ll try and do.” Stoke: Iversen, Gooch, Thompson, Rose, Wilmot, Burger, Cundle, Junho, Leris, Haksabanovic, Campbell. Subs: Bonham, Pearson, Vidigal, Baker, Johnson, Hoever, Mmaee, McNally, Lowe.