Date: Saturday, February 22 Venue: Etihad Stadium Kick-Off: 15:00 Can Manchester City respond positively following their defeat against Barcelona on Tuesday and get their Premier League campaign back on track against Stoke?
Team News
Manchester City continue to be without their top goalscorer Sergio Aguero, who remains sidelined with a hamstring injury. Captain Vincent Kompany has however recovered from a hamstring injury of his own, after picking up a strain against Barcelona, though centre-back colleague Matija Nastasic (knee) is out. Stoke could be without Oussama Assaidi until April after the winger damaged knee ligaments during the club's warm weather break in Dubai. Striker John Guidetti, on loan from City, is ineligible to face his parent club.
Key Stats
Manchester City have won all of their previous five Premier League games against Stoke at home, scoring a combined 14 goals without reply. However, Stoke did hold City to a 0-0 draw in the reverse of this fixture last September. Stoke boss Mark Hughes managed the Citizens for 55 Premier League matches between 2008 and 2009, winning 22. City have failed to win their previous two league games, against Chelsea (L 1-0) and Norwich (D 0-0). It is a year since they last went three topflight matches without a win.
Former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is perhaps returning to Etihad Stadium with new club Stoke at the right time. City have failed to win either of their last two Premier League games and are surely out of the Champions League following their 2-0 home defeat to Barcelona on Tuesday. Suddenly, talk of a historic quadruple has quickly quietened to a whisper, and for the first time in Manuel Pellegrini's reign as manager, the pressure is very much on. That showed earlier this week when the usually-calm Chilean let loose an astonishing verbal broadside on Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson, with claims Barca were given preferential treatment. That was regrettable and Pellegrini has correctly been charged with misconduct, while his sensational blast was likely an effort to deflect attention from his stuttering side. The once-free-scoring Citizens, who have netted 68 league goals this season, have fired blanks in their last four games while injury to Sergio Aguero has eroded their air of invincibility. But against Stoke, the 2011-12 champions face a side without an away win in 11 games and without a clean sheet in 10 league matches, anywhere. And, while the Potters held City to a 0-0 draw last September, It would be improbable to say the least that Pellegrini's men fail to score for a fifth-consecutive game. Stoke beat City's neighbours United 2-1 at the start of the month and while Hughes may be hopeful of taking advantage of his old side's European hangover, I still can't envisage an upset. Expect City to return to winning ways here. Prediction: 3-0 -- BBC
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
