Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit issues Stoke City, Sam Gallagher prediction | OneFootball

Speaking exclusively with FLW, David Prutton has been speaking on how important Sam Gallagher could be to Stoke's survival chances.

Sam Gallagher hasn't enjoyed a debut season of dreams as a Stoke City player so far this season.

The 29-year-old striker joined the Potters in the summer, having spent five years scoring a solid number of goals and being a reliable starter as a Blackburn Rovers player.

However, his debut campaign at the bet365 Stadium hasn't totally gone to plan for the Scotsman, having missed a significant amount of time at the start of the season through injury.

Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Coventry City was another frustrating day at the office for the Potters, but for Gallagher, it marked his first two goals for the club since netting in a 6-1 demolition of Portsmouth back in early October.

"Could be key" - David Prutton makes Sam Gallagher, Stoke City importance claim

Speaking exclusively with Football League World, Sky Sports pundit and former player David Prutton believes that if Gallagher can stay amongst the goals, then he could be an essential part of Stoke City's survival chances.

He said: "Sam Gallagher - just one goal in 26 before the weekend, now two in the space of a half.

"Goes to show potentially that you've got a man in a hurry to get back to his best form. Stoke City certainly need those goals to make sure that the remaining couple of months of the season are as comfortable as possible, if they can edge their way away from the bottom three.

"Undoubtedly a tough job for Mark Robins. It's undoubtedly been a tough job for many Stoke managers since they dropped out of the Premier League; yet to finish in the top half of the Championship since relegation from the Premier League.

"So, yes, a striker bang in form with two goals to his name. It was an incredible end to the game against Coventry City. The raw emotion of Mark Robins returning possibly fed into that.

"But, given what I saw from him, and given what I've seen at this level from him, he could be absolutely key for them going forward."

Stoke City desperately need Sam Gallagher to help replace Tom Cannon's goals

Scoring goals, and in particular finding a goalscorer, has been a real struggle for Stoke City in recent seasons.

The Potters haven't had a double-digit scorer in the Championship since Jacob Brown hit the net 13 times in the 2021/22 campaign.

As such, seeing their prolific centre-forward Tom Cannon - who was sure to have ended that drought - recalled by Leicester City in January having bagged nine times in 22 Championship appearances, was always going to be a huge blow.

With Lewis Baker being Stoke's next highest scorer with five, Robins is in desperate need for someone to step up and fire his side to safety in the final weeks of the season.

Gallagher showed at the Coventry Building Society Arena that he can be his man, and with clashes against relegation rivals such as Luton, Cardiff and Derby all still to come before the curtain falls, he may well require the former Blackburn striker to bring his A game in the closing stages of the campaign.