Stoke City vs Swansea City preview - Vorm expects same from Stoke

Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm believes Stoke will offer few surprises in Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash at the Britannia Stadium.

The Dutch keeper was part of the Swans side that defeated Stoke 2-0 in October, and now with 13 league games remaining, the two clubs are level on 30 points with only Swansea's superior goal difference separating them.

Vorm expects a tough match from Tony Pulis' side but believes the Potters' game plan is easy to read which will once again give Swansea the advantage.

"I think they're hard to beat especially at home but if we keep our possession and the way we play, especially after the new year, we can beat everybody," Vorm told the club's official website, www.swanseacity.net.

"Stoke are a team that are fighting and use a lot of long balls - the opposite of how we play. I think if we get the ball and play how we can play we can win.

"A good thing is there's not really a secret to how they play. You know what to expect and the way they play - you can prepare for it quite well.

"Still, you never know how the match will go. For us the most important thing is to stop them playing a lot of long balls and if we've got the ball not to lose it too fast. If we've got the possession they run after us and I think that's the best way to defeat them."

Stoke are in the middle of a congested run of fixtures, having played in the FA Cup and the Europa league - which they exited on Thursday night thanks to a 2-0 aggregate defeat by Valencia - whereas Swansea return to action fresh from last week's training camp in Tenerife.

Vorm believes the break came at the perfect time and provided a much-needed boost for the final stages of the season.

"We had a lot of games and I think if you have a rest after a couple of days in the nice weather it's always good," Vorm said.

"It costs a lot of strength and power to play how we do but especially against teams like Stoke. If you want to beat them to need to create high pressure and not let them put the ball too fast and lean back on our defence.

"The way they play is very hard to defend. You can beat them but it will be a tough one."

Swansea will be boosted by a return to fitness by midfielder Joe Allen after he missed the 3-2 home defeat by Norwich.

However, Kemy Agustien looks set to miss out after he picked up a knock in training and fellow midfielder Andrea Orlandi (hamstring) is also a doubt.

Jonathan Woodgate believes Stoke will play a better passing team than European conquerors Valencia when they welcome Swansea to the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.

Brendan Rodgers' side have been one of the surprise packages of the Barclays Premier League season, staying well away from the bottom three and earning numerous plaudits for their style of play.

The match comes three days after Stoke's 1-0 defeat by Valencia at the Mestalla and Woodgate is hoping the clash will have prepared them well for the encounter with the Swans.

The former England defender said: "We have a big game on Sunday and we need to win it.

"Swansea are similar to Valencia. They play just as much football as them, in fact they even pass the ball a bit more than Valencia. We should be used to that now and it should be a good game.

They (Swansea) have been first class. The way they have played their football and got to where they are is a credit to them. They had more possession than Arsenal, and they beat them - that is some job."

Stoke manager Tony Pulis will make significant changes from the side knocked out of Europe.

The Potters boss left nine first-team players at home for the defeat in Spain, including the likes of Peter Crouch, Jon Walters and Matthew Etherington, and all are likely to come in as Stoke look to arrest a run of four straight league defeats.

Robert Huth serves the final match of a three-game ban but Rory Delap is available after having his red card at Crawley overturned, while Pulis could give Asmir Begovic a start in goal ahead of Thomas Sorensen.