Stoke out to stave off Beşiktaş challenge

Stoke City FC are preparing for their first UEFA Europa League Group E home game as they take on Turkish side Beşiktaş JK.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition, and Stoke have never come up against Turkish opposition before.

• Beşiktaş's record against English clubs reads W3 D3 L6 (W2 D0 L3 in England). They have registered two notable UEFA Champions League results at Premier League grounds, beating Manchester United FC 1-0 in the 2009/10 group stage, and winning 2-0 at Chelsea FC in the 2003/04 edition. However, they also experienced their biggest loss in UEFA competition in England, going down 8-0 at Liverpool FC in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League.

• In addition, no Turkish side has won a UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League tie in England, with the home side's record in seven fixtures reading W5 D2 L0.

Match background
• Stoke have yet to lose in four European home games (three wins and a draw) since they made their European debut with a 3-1 win against 1. FC Kaiserslautern on 13 September 1972. They have not lost in their last seven European games, home and away.

• Beşiktaş have lost their last two European away games without scoring, conceding six goals in the process.

• Beşiktaş's 5-1 win against Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC on matchday one matched their best ever home wins in UEFA club competition. They have now won three UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League home fixtures by four-goal margins.

Team facts
• Beşiktaş's Hugo Almeida was one of three players to score twice on matchday one along with SC Braga's Hélder Barbosa and FC Vaslui's Wesley. RSC Anderlecht's Matías Suarez was the only player to outscore them, hitting a hat-trick.

• Stoke striker Peter Crouch and midfielder Jermaine Pennant faced Beşiktaş with Liverpool FC in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage; both players were in the side that lost 2-1 in Istanbul, but only Crouch featured in the return fixture, scoring twice in that 8-0 win at Anfield.

• Beşiktaş captain Guti and Stoke defender Jonathan Woodgate were team-mates at Real Madrid CF from 2004 to 2006.

• Beşiktaş winger Bébé is on loan from Manchester United, but not in the club's UEFA Europa League squad list.

• Stoke's Welsh manager Tony Pulis is making his continental coaching debut this season. Highly regarded for leading the Potters back into the Premier League, his only previous involvement in European competition came as a youth player; he featured for Wales as a defender in seven International Youth Tournament games in 1975 and 1976.

• Portuguese coach Carlos Carvalhal has been put in temporary command at Beşiktaş with Tayfur Havutçu relieved of his duties for the moment. Once a defender for SC Braga and FC Porto among others, his last post before coming to Istanbul was at Sporting Clube de Portugal in 2009/10.

• A survey in 2008 discovered that Stoke had the loudest home crowd in the English Premier League with an average peak of 101.8 decibels per game.