Stoke City host a Manchester City side who have been looking out of sorts in their last two Premier League games this season. After thrashing a lacklustre Newcastle United on the opening day, the Citizens lost to newly-promoted outfit Cardiff City, before unconvincingly scraping past newly-promoted Hull City less than a week later. While the Premier League runners-up will be regarded as slim favourites for victory against Stoke this weekend, the Potters have reason to cheer early on this season. Despite a narrow defeat to Liverpool in a well-contested first game of the campaign, Stoke City have gone on to win their last two Premier League matches against newly-promoted Crystal Palace and West Ham United respectively. Their record against Manchester City at their Britannia Stadium is formidable - 1 win and 4 draws from their 5 home meetings in the league. The game could be won and lost from set pieces this weekend, as Stoke are a side well-known for utilising their aerial prowess to great effect, and with Manchester City 'keeper Joe Hart looking shaky this season. Manchester City will be hoping the international break has rejuvenated the side. Centre-back and club-captain Vincent Kompany could be fit to face Stoke which would be a massive boost. Stoke manager Mark Hughes will be hoping to get one over his old employers with his new side, and the Potters have impressed in the early stages of this season which will give him confidence. On the flipside, Manuel Pellegrini faced a scare against Hull City, and the Man City manager has had to give Joe Hart a vote of confidence due to criticism over two high-profile errors against Cardiff City. The visitors boast great attacking personnel, but are still yet to click into gear this early into the season - while Stoke are showing improvement from last season already. The last time the two sides met, the game ended 1-1, and another draw could well be on the cards this weekend.
Crippy Cooke, 23, is a freelance Football Writer contributing to What Culture. He's had work featured on Zoo, MSN, London 24, The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, and was recently named Writer of the Year on FTBpro - while also a nominee for Best Male Blog in the Football Blogging Awards.
