Streatham-raised Joe Bursik heads back to familiar surroundings as Stoke aim to upset Crystal Palace in FA Cup

Joe Bursik heads back to his South London roots tonight and is hoping that Stoke City can cause an FA Cup exit against Crystal Palace.

The 21-year-old was born at Lambeth’s King’s College Hospital and raised in Streatham. He was a pupil at Dunraven School.

Bursik was on the books of AFC Wimbledon before he joined Stoke City in the summer of 2017.

His mum now lives in Norbury – less than 10 minutes from Selhurst Park. Bursik would run past the stadium post lockdown after the Covid-19 outbreak.

Bursik is adamant that Stoke having everything to gain and nothing to lose as they bid to reach the last eight of the FA Cup.

“There is no pressure – if anything it’s quite an exciting game for us,” he told the South London Press. “We played a few pre-season games against Premier League teams – Brentford in the Carabao [Cup] and didn’t do too badly. It’s not like we go into the game scared. We’re going in treating it like any other game, if not we can probably produce a more free performance.

“We’re feeling confident. We’re not going to be shy at all. We’re hoping to win.

“A couple of my mates are season-ticket holders [at Palace] and they will be there. It would be lovely to play there, they’ll probably be the ones giving me the most abuse from the stands.

“We’ve had some difficult results in the past couple of weeks. We felt as if we’ve played really well and just not been getting that bit of luck. It’s tough because it is disheartening when it keeps happening. We have got to put the performances in and see where it takes us. If we knock in a few of those missed opportunities we can see where it leaves us. We’re certainly not ruling anything out until it is mathematically impossible to get into the play-offs. We’ll keep pushing for that.

“The manager has told us it [the Palace game] is a free ticket. We’ve got nothing to lose – just show everyone what we’re about. You’ve got to back yourself to do well because you’ve got no reason not to, really.”

Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Conor Gallagher were team-mates of Bursik when England U17s won the FIFA World Cup in 2017.

“That was mad – firstly India was crazy,” said Bursik. “No-one had ever been there, we were all 16 and 17. You don’t know what the culture was like. You could tell it was such a massive thing for the people, to have such a tournament there.

“We had an unbelievable team. We were confident and when we got to the latter stages, and you’re playing big nations off the park, you start to get a sniff. It was pretty surreal, we were out there for five weeks. We did it and it was deserved. It’s definitely something I won’t ever forget.

“There will be a few of the U21 lads there for the game. That team [U17] was star-studded, half of them are playing in the Prem or an equivalent level. You always knew it was a special team.

“It comes as no surprise that a lot of those lads are doing unbelievable things. I played with Marc and Conor since I was about 16, I still play with them now. They are good lads and I’m glad they are doing well.”