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Stoke City Vs Manchester City : Match Preview And Team News

Stoke City Vs. Manchester City

Venue: Britannia Stadium
Time: September 15, 2012. 15:00 Hrs B.S.T
Stoke City last 3 games: DDD
Manchester City last 3 games: WDW

Manchester City looks to resume their quest for title defence as the Premier League resumes after a two week hiatus. The ‘other’ team from Manchester will also be wary of their Champions League clash with Spanish giants Real Madrid on midweek and will try to put up a balancing act in order to avoid fatigue. Inspite of winning two out of the first three matches Manchester City have looked anything but impressive and it has taken the brilliance of Carlos Tevez in all the three matches to make the difference.
Stoke City on the other hand have been at their combative best with all their three matches being a drawn encounter. The first result against Arsenal was especially impressive.
The last time the two teams met at the Britannia Stadium it was a 1-1 draw with everyone still remembering the brilliant Peter Crouch goal.

Injury Concerns:
Stoke City will probably have to do without the services of Matthew Etherington who is still suffering from a groin injury caused in the match against Arsenal. He has a 50-50 chance of making the match and will be subject to a late fitness test. Michael Owen is another maybe for Stoke City as the recent addition to their ranks is still a little short of full match fitness. However he should be in the substitute’s bench at the very least.

Aguero will be on the bench for City

Manchester City also has their own injury concerns. Sergio Aguero, although back in full training, will probably miss this match given how they face Real Madrid in 4 days time. Micah Richards is also at least a fortnight away from full fitness from his ankle injury while Pablo Zabaleta is also racing against time to get fit in time to face Stoke City.

Team News and Key Players:

Stoke City suddenly look to have been injected with class with the addition of Michael Owen and Charlie Adam in their ranks. The hope, at least from Tony Pulis’s view point, will be that Charlie Adam will be the main provider with his long balls which will be knocked down by Peter Crouch and duly finished by Michael Owen. However should Michael Owen not be passed fit to play the mantle of playing the role of the second striker will fall on Jonathan Walters. For me in this match at-least Jonathan Walters is the player to watch.

Manchester City on the other hand will just be praying for a victory, no matter what the scoreline is, given how their Champions League commitment gets in the way. The news coming from the Manchester City camp is that there will be heavy rotation prior to this game. What this basically means is that the likes of Sergio Aguero are most probably not going to be rested at a place like the Britannia Stadium. Carlos Tevez is however one player looking immune from rotation having scored or assisted in each of the three matches played so far. Thus Carlos Tevez is our player to watch from Manchester City.

Stoke City Probable Lineup (4-4-1-1): Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Cameron, Wilkinson, Wilson, Whitehead, Adam, Kightly, Walters, Crouch

Substitutes: Sorensen, Nzonzi, Shotton, Palacios, Delap, Jerome, Pennant, Whelan, Jones, Upson, Owen, Edu, Etherington

Manchester City Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Hart, Maicon, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Toure, Garcia, Silva, Nasri, Tevez, Balotelli

Substitutes: Nielsen, Pantilimon, Nimely, Nastasic, Zabaleta, Milner, Razak, Kolarov, K Touré, Sinclair, Agüero, Dzeko

                                                                            

 

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