Alex Neil is hoping to use his record against Bristol City to end Stoke City's own poor run of results against the Robins.
Nigel Pearson's side head to the Potteries having won on their previous four consecutive visits, including Jay Dasilva's late winner 12 months ago in a narrow 1-0 victory. City have lost just two of their last 10 meetings between the two sides, dating back to League Cup victory back in 2017.
This is the third time Neil has come up against Pearson in the dugout this season, having got the better of him on both occasions at Ashton Gate. His former Sunderland side won 3-2 in the opening fixture of the season at Ashton Gate while Stoke ran out 2-1 winners just before the New Year.
During his spell at Preston, Neil came up against City on eight occasions, winning four, drawing three and losing one. The 41-year-old acknowledged Bristol City's injury problems, with Alex Scott, Kal Naismith and Tomas Kalas ruled out, but pinpointed City's youthful qualities as a key threat in their side.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he said: "I've played against them twice already this season, albeit down at their place, and unlike our record, I've got a good record against Bristol.
"Bristol at the moment have got a lot of injuries, which is important to note, but what they have got is a young and enthusiastic team who get after the ball and run about. They're high energy. We've got seven games remaining and we want to go and try to win each and every one of them."
City will be boosted by Stoke having two players ruled out through injury. Centre-back Axel Tuanzebe, on loan from Manchester United misses out while striker Dwight Gayle - who was involved in that ongoing transfer saga seven years ago - is also unlikely to feature.
Stoke head into the game in fine form having beaten Coventry 4-0 away from home in their last outing. Neil is also a nominee for Manager of the Month for March following a 5-1 thrashing at Sunderland and a 3-2 win at home to Blackburn Rovers.
Pearson knows his side will need to be at their best to collect three points, tasking his side to emulate the performance against Reading by showing plenty of attacking intent. He said: "They're on a good run. One of the form teams. They're one (two) points ahead of us so it's always a tough game when you go there.
"The game we played just after Christmas was a disappointment for us in terms of how we conceded on that day. We caused ourselves a few problems. They're our next opponents so we want to try and win the game and finish the season as well as possible.
"It will be a difficult game because they've got some good players. Powell has come back into the side up top and provides a different type of a threat.
"(Will) Smallbone who just plays behind is a creative player and they have good energy in midfield too. Again, it's a game in which we'll certainly have our chances if we go there with a positive intent to do the type of job that we want to do on them."
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