4. Pressurise
During the hard-fought victory over Newcastle at St James Park last weekend, one thing that was immediately obvious was the West Ham players' commitment to chase down their opponents and stop them from enjoying too much time or space on the ball. Like Stoke, Newcastle tend to play long ball football, trying to get their strikers to win balls high up the pitch with support from wingers and Yohan Cabaye, and West Ham's pressure meant that the deeper lying players weren't able to take the time to choose their passes. That game plan should be the same again tonight, with Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan pushing on the Stoke defence to stop the longer balls, and the midfield working hard to crowd out Stoke's middle men. Industry, pressure and keeping the ball have been the answers for newly promoted teams in the shape of Newcastle and Swansea City in the past three years, and West Ham have adopted a similar approach to success. They might not have the highest passers in the league by any means, but they don't allow their opponents enough time to think on the ball (albeit aside from Arsenal), which will be particularly important tonight to stop Stoke looking for balls over the top of the midfield. Mohamed Diame is key to this pressure, as he showed against Newcastle, as he is more than capable of taking the ball away from opponents and running with it, to start new attacks for West Ham.