Man City vs Stoke preview

The Potters will be making their first trip to the City of Manchester Stadium for the Sunday afternoon kick-off. Stoke’s away form is not likely to stir the neutrals into any predictions of an upset with Stoke only having earned the point away (against Liverpool) for their troubles, but fans will know that the results have not always done justice to the performance of the Potters and, with some luck, you never know…

The match was forced to be delayed 24 hours by police who were concerned that the presence of Stoke fans in the City would upset the viewing for United fans unable to travel the long distance for their 1-1 draw with Everton yesterday.

Vital Quotes:

Thomas Sorensen reckons that the pressure is all on the Blues: ‘They have the ability to destroy us and they will also look at Stoke and say it is a must-win game.

‘But they have not won for three games in the league and we have the players to make it difficult for them.

‘The longer it goes on without them scoring, the better it will be for us. We frustrated Liverpool and there is no reason why we can’t do the same to Manchester City.’

Man City Team News:

The Blues only have three points more than the Potters but they sit nine places above us going into today’s match. Home form has been mixed with two wins and two defeats, but that did include the 6-0 thrashing of Portsmouth last month.
Micah Richards is a doubt, but there are hopes that he will have struggled off an ankle injury sustained during the draw with Newcastle on Monday night.

Player to watch: Robinho

They’ve certainly got the money these days, but have only had one chance to spend any before the transfer window closed on September 1st and made their intentions crystal clear with the record £32.5m move for Robinho.

Stoke City Team News:

Thomas Sorensen is likely to play after sustaining a head injury in last week’s win over Spurs that required 15 stitches. Liam Lawrence is still out after being injured tripping over the pet Labrador, so Pulis is likely to be able to pick from the same squad that was victorious last weekend.

Player to watch: Ricardo Fuller

The Jamaican international should now be fully recovered from his exploits with the national team and raring to start after only coming on for the final half hour last week.

Match Facts & Stats

The first league match between the two teams since they were both in League Division 2 in the 1998/9 season. The Blues bounced straight back to Division 1, but it took another three years before we made it up via the play-offs in 2002.