The wait is over. The preparations done. Coventry City are ready to embark on another new season in the Championship, and expectations are through the roof after a positive summer on and off the pitch. Six new players have added quality to last season's exciting Sky Blues squad, and Mark Robins' men appear in fine fettle with manager and players alike full of hope and optimism for a sustained and ultimately successful promotion push. Although City will be without newly named captain and influential midfielder Ben Sheaf for today's game (kick-off 12.30pm), Robins has plenty of strength in depth to see him through the opening fixture and beyond, if necessary. Victor Torp, Jamie Allen and Josh Eccles will be vying for the holding roles in a starting line-up that is likely to see competitive debuts for Jack Rudoni, Oliver Dovin and Ephron Mason-Clark. Also expected to be included in the squad will be exciting new striker Brandon Thomas-Asante. We will bring you teams news from the bet365 Stadium at 11.30am, follow by all the action with updates from Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner...

Stoke City start their new Championship season today as they host Coventry at the bet365 Stadium (12.30pm kick-off). Stoke head into their first full season under head coach Steven Schumacher, as well as sporting director Jon Walters, head of recruitment Lee Darnbrough and a new ownership model - with John Coates at the helm rather than bet365, his family's company - but supporters need to see changes on the pitch. There have been six successive bottom half finishes in this division since relegation from the Premier League in 2018 and a couple, including last term, have involved spells far too close to the relegation zone for comfort. New signings Viktor Johansson, Ben Gibson, Eric Bocat and Sam Gallagher are tasked with changing that, with more transfers to come. Steven Schumacher is without star man Bae Junho (quad), however, for an opening day test against a side which is being tipped to challenge for promotion. There have been big changes at the bet365 Stadium too, with a long-awaited fan zone built behind the Boothen End, standing installed in the south stand and the away end shifted so that home supporters flank both sides of the tunnel at long last.

Schumacher: "To distract me, yes! It's good football, sometimes! It's hard at this stage fo the season for enery manager, you're juggling so many different things. As long as you feel you're well organised with the help of your staff then you'll be fine." Schumacher: "Mad. I just wish I could concentrate on the football!" Schumacher: "Absolutely. We wouldn't be risking that if we didn't have someone lined up or we were working on something and we've got a plan. If he does go, can we fill those positions... which we feel as though we can. It's ongoing." Schumacher: "Mehdi looks as if he could be moving on. It's something that has been out there and people are aware of. I spoke to Mehdi early in pre-season and he spoke about his desire to play regularly which I can't guarantee anyone in the squad. He said he wants to get back in the Algeria squad, which again is understandable, and he asked to leave when the interest came in from the Italian club. We didn't want to stand in his way but it's rumbled on. Complications always happen! He trained with us yesterday and was due to be in the squad but we were told in the morning that the deal was closer. If it does get confirmed we wish him well because Mehdi is a great lad and he's done well for us. We wouldn't want to stand in his way." Schumacher: "Just too soon. He did a little bit on Thursday and Friday on the grass with the medical team and we decided he's just too important to us to risk bringing back too soon. We'll let him keep building up his fitness. He probably won't be available on Tuesday either, too much of a risk, and we'll see about Saturday." Schumacher: "Well, it's obviously someone we're interested in and someone we've been speaking to Celtic about for a little while. It's obviously not finalised yet so I won't go into too much detail yet if you don't mind because obviously we won't until it's confirmed." Schumacher: "He's a young player, an exciting one and someone Liverpool have got high hopes for. We watched him play live against us last season and he did really well. The resports we've had are that e's got a really good attitude but he's only young so we can't expect too much too soon. This is his first experience out on loan, first experience of men's football and at this level it will be difficult. But we'll be glad when he joins us on Monday and I'm looking forward to seeing him on the pitch." Schumacher: "Really well. I'm pleased for him. He's been excellent all through pre-season and I thought he deserved this opportunity. He looked after the ball, occupied the two centre-backs for us and took up some good positions and allowed us to dominate that first half. Niall we'd spoken to in the week and said he was going to come on the pitch and he knows how we work. He can make a big impact on the game for us, which we did." Schumacher: "It was a brilliant goal. All the changes made a huge impact for us. Niall gave us a platform to get up the pitch. Emre had worked so hard for the time he was on the pitch. Lewis came on for Burgs when Wouter had just run out of energy a little bit. We said to Lewis to try to give us a foothold in the game, to calm it down if you can but without being too deep. If he had come closer to the ball, which is more natural for him, we wouldn't have had anyone close to Niall. We asked him to run forward as much as he could and he's seen the gap. It's a brilliant goal, really well taken and gets us off the mark. Then DJ came on he had that experience to be really calm, which was what we needed at that stage." Schumacher: "Jack had a knock in training on Tuesday. He saved the ball and just jarred his wrist. He went for an x-ray on Friday because it was giving him a bit of jip and there was something small in there. He's going to see a specialist this weekend so that's why Frankie Fielding was on the bench. We don't know whether it's an old one or new so it's under investigation. He thinks he's ok. He said he wanted to train on Friday but the doctors and medical team said it was probably too much of a risk until they know the full extent of what's going on." Schumacher: "Ben's a real good leader with brilliant experience. He's played in this division for a long time and also in the division above. He's a brilliant character for the dressing room and he has been confirmed as captain. Josh has been confirmed as vice captain. But also we'll have a leadership group underneath that because it's dead important players have an input in what we're trying to do, that they tell us things we need to know or are unsure about. When you've got good characters in the dressing room they can work together and be collaborative and that's what we're trying to do. Gibbo was excellent. I don't like singling players out but he was excellent." Schumacher: "That's not just Stoke. That's every team if you don't take your chances in the first half, you always expect a reaction from the opposition because they'll adjust and see where you've been hurting them. Mark is a brilliant manager. They made changes, got higher up the pitch and put us under a bit of pressure. What I meant by us being rubbish was that we kept giving the ball away under that pressure and invited them onto us. We had to battle through that. We have spoken a lot during the off-season of trying to be comfortable under pressure, being comfortable when we're uncomfortable. That's what we managed to do. We kept it tight and although we weren't playing great, Viktor didn't really have a save to make. We came through that and had a response from the lads who came on and helped us win the game. It was a really good day and to win four games on the spin in the Championship - even if there's been a gap - including three here and not concede a goal in those four games is brilliant and something for us to build on." Schumacher: "I think we were all aware of how difficult this game was going to be against a Coventry team who have strengthened really well over the summer. Everybody is tipping them to be the surprise package in the Championship this season. We spoke to the players about what they were really good at but also where we thought we could hurt them with our play. I thought that was a Championship game that had absolutely everything in it. We played really well in the first half, rubbish for parts of the second half and had to soak up pressure. We got a brilliant reaction when we made the changes, scored a really good goal and managed the game well. So it was a game that had everything but it was the result that we were after and we carry that momentum on." Ratings are in from a very good win for Stoke. Resolute defensively and Lewis Baker took his well-earned chance well to take all three points. READ THE RATINGS

Well done Stoke. That's an excellent performance and win against a team that you can bank on being aroudn the top six this season. Johansson looks well up for this season. He doesn't miss a chance to bump into Haji Wright as well as claim the ball from a cross. The final stages are being played out to a chant of Schumacher's Barmy Army. Stoke have played very well. Five more minutes to get through. Josh Laurent booked for a foul on Kasey Palmer. Manhoef gets a standing ovation as he's replaced by Daniel Johnson. Wilmot gets his head on Baker's corner and it fizzes past the far post. Good hold up play from Ennis and Gooch wins a corner when his cross is deflected out. Offside flag goes up against Coventry sub Brandon Thomas-Asante as he gets into space behind the Stoke defence and crashes a shot at Johansson. Lewis Baker!

Great play from Baker. He gets the ball in the Coventry half from Gooch and plays a one-two with Manhoef to get inside the box, dashing towards the right, where he squeezes a shot past Dovin from the corner of the six-yard box. Wouter Burger, who has been short on gas as well, is replaced by Lewis Baker. Gooch is caught in a dead end just inside the Stoke half and rather than kick it down the line he scoops it back towards the Stoke goal and Coventry have a corner. It's a good cross from Rudoni when he gets it back from a short corner and Binks heads just wide. Gooch is struggling as he goes up against Rudoni in a defensive one-on-one and Rudoni just has the legs to get past him in the end. Johansson gathers the cross. Coventry are still having the better of the territory and a couple of Stoke's players, we're looking at Lynden Gooch, aren't looking as fresh as they did in the first half. Stupid from Jordan Thompson. In the book for pushing Sakamoto in the back when the ball had already gone out of play. The two had been jostling for possession by the half-way line. Big ovation for Emre Tezgel as he's replaced by Niall Ennis. Coventry City matchday live from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner brings you all the action from today's season opener.

The final whistle has gone and City have lost their opening day match. Poor in the second half, the Sky Blues gave a better account of themsleves after the break but only had seven attempts on goal all game, with just one on target. City continue to push for an equaliser but Stoke look to be seeing the game out well. Sakamoto off. City have eight minutes to get a goal back. City are wide open in midfeld and Baker plays it wide to Manhoef who thn slips him into the box where he beats Dovin at his near post with Binks sliding in just too late to make the block. Sub Lewis Baker gives Stoke the lead Rudoni sends in a deep cross and Luis Binks gets his head to it but sends it wide at the far post. City enjoy a corner but can't capitalise but recycle the ball and Rudoni beats his man on the right and sends in a low shot which the keeper saves. 25,037 (2,982 away) Thomas-Asante, Eccles and Wright replace Simms, Torp and Mason-Clark as Robins attempts to ramp things up. City have made a really positive start to the second half after a poor opening 45. Sakamoto suddenly looks lively on the right, as does EMC on the left. They are knocking the ball about well and the fans are driving them on with their full repertoire of songs. City force an early corner but the keeper comes and takes Rudoni's ball high in the air. The Sky Blues are lucky to go in goalless after riding their luck in the opening half when they have been disappointing by their pre-season standards. The Potters have hit the post and been denied by a good save and a couple of blocks. Coventry, meanwhile, haven't had a single shot on goal and just one attempt when Rudoni passed the ball wide of the keeper and far post. Bidwell gets in a crucial block as a Stoke back-heel almost frees Manhoef for a shot. Lucky escape again for City. City win two corners in quick succession but can't make them count. The Sky Blues are struggling to get into this game and assert their quality. Stoke are typically big, strong and aggressive and currently have the slight edge in the game. Dovin makes an excellent save to deny Tezgel after Tchamadeu sends in a threatenign ball to the box. Stoke are starting to get on top here and City are lucky not to be behind. Gooch turns Jamie Allen inside out and sends in a deep cross where the unmarked Tchamadeu heads onto the far post. The ball bounces kindly away before Thomas clears. Stoke have three corners in quick succession but the first is headed clear by Thomas and the second is punched away by Dovin. Thomas then heads clear the third before Bidwell blocks a shot from the resulting clearance. Milan van Ewijk intercepts the ball deep in his own half and sets off up-field, feeding Rudoni who reaks into the box and hits a shot wide of the target. It's end to end at the minute. Jack Rudoni sparks an attack at one end when he plays the ball to EMC and then onto Simms who droves into the box. The striker checks back and feeds Rudoni who has his shot blocked. Tezgel is then fouled by Binks at the other end, resultign in a free-kick 25 yards out from the goal but a training ground routine fails to come off.

Mark Robins has handed competitive debuts to three summer arrivals as Coventry City kick-off the new 2024/25 Championship campaign at Stoke. Oliver Dovin, Jack Rudoni and Ephron Mason-Clark all start their first league game for the Sky Blues in today’s lunchtime match at the bet365 Stadium. Sweden international Dovin starts in goal on a day when Ben Wilson is named as understudy on the bench while Brad Collins misses out altogether. A predictable back four sees Milan van Ewijk and Jake Bidwell occupy the right and left-back positions, respectively, while Bobby Thomas is partnered alongside Luis Binks at the heart of the defence on a day when Liam Kitching is serving the third of a three match suspension that has hung over from last season, while Joel Latibeaudiere provides back-up from the bench. Victor Torp and Jamie Allen are deployed in the holding midfield roles in the absence of injured skipper Ben Sheaf, leaving Josh Eccles as cover among the substitutes. Elsewhere, Jack Rudoni starts his first competitive game for the club in the number ten role with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto on the right and fellow new recruit Ephron Mason-Clark on the left in the position Haji Wright usually occupies. The USA international has only recently returned from an ankle injury and starts today’s game on the bench. That leaves Ellis Simms to lead the line while most recent signing, Brandon Thomas-Asante, is another exciting attacking option among the substitutes along with Fabio Tavares and Kasey Palmer. City’s starting XI: Oliver Dovin; Milan van Ewijk, Bobby Thomas, Luis Binks, Jake Bidwell; Victor Torp, Jamie Allen; Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Jack Rudoni, Ephron Mason-Clark; Ellis Simms. Subs: Ben Wilson (GK), Jay Dasilva, Haji Wright, Joel Latibeaudiere, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Josh Eccles, Fabio Tavares, Kasey Palmer, Kai Andrews. Ben Sheaf and summer signing Raphael will miss Coventry City’s big opening day of the Championship season at Stoke this weekend. The influential Sky Blues midfielder is currently nursing a an ankle injury, limping off just minutes after going on midway through the second half against Stevenage in last month’s pre-season friendly agaisnt the League One club. That forced him to sit out the three warm-up games against Darmstadt, Everton and Werder Bremen and now Saturday’s trip to the bet365 Stadium where Josh Eccles, Victor Torp and Jamie Allen are among those vying for the holding midfield roles. READ THE FULL STORY HERE:

Mark Robins maintains that he will continue with three senior goalkeepers at Coventry City this season, albeit with one vital caveat. The Sky Blues boss drafted in highly-rated Sweden stopper Oliver Dovin last month and the 22-year-old has taken the No.1 shirt and looks set to start against Stoke City when the new Championship campaign gets underway this lunchtime (12.30pm). Dovin, a £1.6m capture from Hammarby, adds competition to existing keepers Brad Collins and Ben Wilson which means one will miss out of the matchday squad. It’s unclear at this stage who will be left out and whether that signals that the writing is on the wall long-term for one of them. Certainly, from a morale perspective, it may be hard to take for whoever sits out on a regular basis. READ THE FULL STORY HERE:

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Stoke City and Coventry City at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday; Lewis Baker hits winner for Steven Schumacher's Potters on home soil Saturday 10 August 2024 16:40, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Lewis Baker came off the bench to grab the only goal of the game as Stoke claimed a 1-0 victory against Coventry. The Sky Blues made a fast start, with summer signing Jack Rudoni and striker Ellis Simms linking up nicely to force an opening, but the former was thwarted as he looked to pull the trigger inside the box. Rudoni was at it again inside the first 10 minutes when his run through the heart of the Potters' defence saw him create space for a shot, but his right-footed effort trickled past goalkeeper Viktor Johansson's left-hand post. Stoke responded well and a Million Manhoef corner dropped to Lynden Gooch on the edge of the box but he could not find away through a packed penalty area. Gooch turned provider moments later when his searching cross from the left found the head of Junior Tchamadeu at the back post, but his reaching effort went wide. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Another headed effort for the home side came and went. A ball into the box from Tchamadeu was directed goalwards by Emre Tezgel but a flying save from Coventry goalkeeper Oliver Dovin kept the scores level. Rudoni continued to be a thorn in the side of the Stoke defence as his jinking runs, tidy footwork and directness carved open the home side on numerous occasions, albeit to no avail. Download the Sky Sports app Live EFL 2024/25 fixtures on Sky Sports+ Get more EFL to your phone with WhatsApp Watch EFL on Sky with NOW The home side took the lead in the 78th minute after some lovely counter-attacking football. A sweeping move from right to left saw Baker send the ball out to Manhoef. The Dutchman played a sumptuous reverse pass into the feet of Baker who slid his effort through the legs of the advancing Dovin. Stoke's Steven Schumacher: "We were all aware of how difficult this game was going to be, we knew we were coming up against a Coventry team who, again, have strengthened really well in the summer and everybody is tipping them to be the surprise package in the Championship this season. We spoke with the players about their strengths and what they were good at, but also where we felt we could hurt them with our style of play. I thought that was a Championship game that had everything in it, we played really well in the first half and rubbish for parts of the second and had to soak up pressure, but the result is what we were after and we have to carry that momentum on. It was a really good day. To win four games on the spin in the Championship is brilliant, three here in that run and not to concede a goal is excellent, so that is something for us to build on. It was a brilliant goal. I just asked him (Baker) to run forward as much as he possibly could, he saw a gap, it was really well-taken goal and it gets us off the mark." Coventry's Mark Robins: "We weren't in good enough positions to be able to put them under pressure and ended up thinking sitting off them was the right way to go about it and it wasn't. We didn't get to grips with it, we allowed them to build their momentum into the game. We talk about courage and bravery and we didn't show enough of that. At half-time we spoke about being a bit more aggressive and being on the front foot. To be able to gain control in the game you have to be willing to go and press and put them under pressure and when you win the ball back you are in good positions. After we did that, we started to play. Sometimes when the season starts it's a bit of an eye-opener, when you fail to get to grips with it it can put a bit of doubt in your mind at this level. It was a disappointing goal. We got enough of the ball to build and create something. We didn't create enough good chances for the good players we have and that is something we clearly have to work on." The £250,000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday. © 2024 Sky UK