Stoke City v Manchester City team news & stats

Mark Holmes 04 Dec 2015 11:29 AM

Stoke City v Manchester City: First game of Premier League weekend

Both Stoke City and Manchester City are set to welcome back key players for Saturday’s Premier League clash at the Britannia Stadium.

Team news

Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross is available after sitting out the midweek Capital One Cup quarter-final win over Sheffield Wednesday following his red card at Sunderland.

Peter Crouch will miss out with a hamstring injury picked up early on against Wednesday, but Mame Diouf is expected to return to the squad following the birth of his child.

Manchester City, meanwhile, are hopeful that Joe Hart and Sergio Aguero will be fit following hamstring and ankle injuries respectively. David Silva could start after returning as a substitute in the midweek Capital One Cup win over Hull City.

Kick-off at the Britannia Stadium is at 12.45pm.

Opta stats

Stoke City have won just two of their 14 Premier League meetings with Manchester City (D5 L7), and just one of the last 12.
However, at the Britannia Stadium the Potters have lost just one of their seven Premier League clashes with the Citizens (W1 D5), although that defeat came last time out (1-4 in February). Their solitary home win came in their maiden Premier League season, in January 2009 (1-0).
Stoke have netted just seven goals in their 14 Premier League games against Manchester City.
Sergio Aguero has bagged five goals in his five Premier League appearances against Stoke.
Stoke are the only side against which Pablo Zabaleta has scored more than one goal for Man City in all competitions (two goals in total).
Stoke have lost just two of their last nine Premier League games, winning five and drawing two as well as keeping five clean sheets in their last seven.
Stoke has averaged 326 accurate passes per game and posted a 79% passing accuracy rate in 2015-16 so far, both season-highs in the club’s Premier League history.
Manchester City have only managed two clean sheets in their last nine Premier League games after keeping six in a row directly before that.
Kevin De Bruyne has been directly involved in 10 goals in his 10 Premier League appearances this season (four goals, six assists).
A league-high nine different nationalities have scored for the Citizens in the top-flight this season.