Stoke City v Manchester City – Preview

  After a dismal first half performance at Tottenhamon Tuesday night, and a heartbreaking late defeat at Chelsea two weeks ago, it is about time Tony Pulis’ Stoke sideproduced something to cheer about. Tomorrow’s fixture against ”World’s Richest Club” Manchester City could provide this tonic, and with Stoke’shome form good all season and City having won only once on the road this term, I have every confidence that we can halt our slide with a much-needed result tomorrow.

 
Kaka: Set to make his City debut…oh wait

  Inspired by Brazilian forward/winger Robinho, who gives new meaning to the phrase ”touch of a rapist”, the Manchester club comfortably beat Stoke 3-0 in the reverse fixture in October, with Robinhonetting all three. Stoke will be desperate to avoid a repeat of this scoreline against a City side that showed on that day that they are capable of playing some very attractive football on their day. Their days have been few and far between in recent months though, with a string of bad results resulting in a slump into the relegation zone, though better form of late and a four match unbeaten run has pulled them away from immediate danger.

  Full-back Andy Wilkinson, who today penned a new deal with Stoke, may miss the game with a foot injury. If he does, I won’t be too disappointed, as after some recent good displays, he was poor at Spurs and a week off would do him good. Hard-man centre half Abdoulaye Faye is also a doubt after being shot three times in the head, though medics have rated him as 95% likely to play, which may explain Robinho’s recent flight to Brazil. Mamady Sidibe remains out for Stoke, while Ricardo Fuller is likely to replace Richard Cresswell in attack, and make his 100th Stoke appearance in doing so. Long term absentee , winger Liam Lawrence may also make his first start since September as he pushes towards full fitness. AmdyFaye, who put down reports a a move to Portsmouth in the clearest way possible, by also signing a new contact with Stoke earlier today will continue in midfield.

 
Amdy Faye and Andy Wilkinson, who have signed new one and two year deals respectively

  Sky Blue’s boss Mark Hughes has a close to full strength squad to choose from for the clash, with only minor doubts over Shaun Wright-Phillips and Argentine defender/midfielder Pablo Zabaleta, both of whom are expected to come through fitness tests to play.

  With our good home form and the ferocious atmosphere inside the Britannia Stadium ”bearpit”, I expect Stoke to get at least a draw from tomorrow’s game, or maybe even a hard-fought win. 

Key Battles:

Ricardo Fuller v Micah Richards
Fuller will probably start tomorrow for the first time in over a month after serving a suspension after slapping Andy Griffin in the 2-1 loss at West Ham. He will come up against City’s England international defender Micah Richards who has been criticised recently for being off his game and out of shape and has been linked with a move away from Eastlands. Both players will be looking to prove their doubters wrong with a big performance.

 

Ryan Shawcross v Craig Bellamy
The Citizens’ new (stupidly) big money signing Bellamy made a good start to his career at the club, hitting the decisive second goal in Wednesday’s win over Newcastle from outside the box. He will look to continue in the same vein of form, but will come up against a tough challenge in blossoming young centre back Shawcross, who Stoke signed from City’s arch rival (purely geographical, not in terms of achievement), Manchester United.

 

Manchester City Squad:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (21), Kasper Schmeichel (22)

Defenders: Micah Richards (20), Richard Dunne (29), Pablo Zabaleta (24), Javier Garrido (23), Wayne Bridge (28), Tal Ben Haim (26), Michael Ball (29), Nedum Onuoha (22), Berti Glauber (25), Danny Mills (31), Shaleum Logan (20), Curtis Obeng (19), Clayton McDonald (20), Ryan McGivern (19)

Midfielders: Stephen Ireland (22), Shaun Wright-Phillips (27), Elano (27), Vincent Kompany (22), Nigel de Jong (24), Martin Petrov (30), Gelson Fernandes (22), Dietmar Hamann (35), Adam Clayton (20), Karl Moore (19), Angelos Tsiaklis (19)

Forwards: Robinho (25), Darius Vassell (28), Craig Bellamy (29), Jo (21), Benjani Mwaruwari (30), Daniel Sturridge (19), Ched Evans (20), Valeri Bojinov (22), Kelvin Etuhu (20), Ian Daly (18)

Star Man: Robinho
25 year old forward-cum-winger Robinho joined Manchester City on transfer deadline day August 2008 from Real Madrid for a fee of £32.5 million, despite at the time thinking he had signed for Chelsea. He has taken very well to English football, already scoring twelve goals, including a hat-trick against Stoke when the teams last met in October. The Brazilian, who has 58 caps for his country has been surrounded by controversy of late, after going AWOL from a Tenerife training camp last week it has emerged he has been arrested and bailed for rape.

Comparative Club Stats:
                                     Stoke                      Manchester City
League Position:                      19th                                        9th

Goals Scored:                            27                                           58

Goals Conceded:                       45                                           44

Home Record: (W, D, L)            6,4,4                                     10,1,7

Away Record: (W,D,L)              1,3,10                                     5,4,7

Clean Sheets:                              6                                           11

Failed To Score:                         10                                           7

Top Scorers:                   Fuller (6), Sidibe (4)               Robinho (12), Ireland (9)