Manchester City have made it 2 wins in 2 in the Premier League so far this season after a win against Liverpool on Monday night topped off a victory on a visit to Newcastle just over a week earlier. The Blues are still at home for Saturday’s clash, in which Stoke City visit The Etihad in the third round of Premier League action of the new season.
The first time these two sides met last season was in the customary low-scoring draw at The Britannia last September. That was a game in which fans were given an early glimpse of Stevan Jovetić, but other than that there wasn’t really many talking points – City didn’t play great, Stoke couldn’t capitalise, and it finished 0-0 after the 90 minutes. There has always been a bit of animosity from Mark Hughes towards the club since he left The Citizens in late 2009, and he will always be keen to put one over his former side.
So five months later when the fixture came rolling around again – in the return game in Manchester – Mark Hughes was relishing the prospect of visiting a City side who were on poor form, having won just one game in the whole of February. Indeed, The Potters did give Manuel Pellegrini and his team a good fight, holding them back until the 70th minute, when Yaya Touré prodded home the breakthrough goal.
Needless to say, Stoke always put up a fight against the boys in blue. They’ve done a lot of improving this summer, bringing in Bojan from Barcelona, Mame Biram Diouf from Hannover and Victor Moses from Chelsea. With players like that, along with the ones already plying their trade at The Britannia, The Potters’ ground is becoming an even more fearful place to visit.
Currently Stoke do have some injury worries to concern themselves with ahead of Saturday’s game. Bojan (knock), Phil Bardsley (knee) and Robert Huth (knee) all have late fitness tests ahead of their Capital One Cup Second Round tie against Portsmouth at the Britannia on Wednesday, and even if they fail to make it in time for the game, they should be back fit by the time The Potters roll into Manchester on Saturday afternoon. City old boys Stephen Ireland (rib) and Glenn Whelan (ankle) are both confirmed to be out of Saturday’s game.
In the City dugout, there could be some concerns about the strikeforce. Whilst Stevan Jovetić looks to be on fire and Sergio Agüero looks sharp – if not fully fit – both Edin Džeko (knock) and Álvaro Negredo (metatarsal) could be out of the visit of Stoke. Negredo is definitely confirmed to be out, whilst there remains some doubts on Edin. He picked up a knock in the 3-1 victory over Liverpool on Monday night and whilst no-one is really sure how long he’ll be absent for. That could leave City with just two strikers for the game – although it’s probably the two most City fans would prefer to have.
The Manchester Evening News have reported that Pellegrini could bring several players in for Saturday’s match. We are yet to see Bacary Sagna and Eliaquim Mangala (among others) this season, and the Stoke game could be our first opportunity. A lot of Blues will feel comfortable going into the game given the history of these two on this ground; however last season showed us that even at home we aren’t invincible and need to be careful, especially when ringing the changes in the starting eleven.
