Manchester City-Stoke City Preview

LONDON (SE) - Manchester City will be looking to keep up their title challenge when they visit Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday evening.

Both teams go into the game in good form, with Man City on a high following the 2-1 comeback win over Chelsea on Wednesday - a game that featured a return to action for Carlos Tevez.

“I think it was important that Carlos made an incredible assist for Samir (Nasri) and all the supporters were happy with that,” said City manager Roberto Mancini. “I think Carlos needs more time, it’s not easy for him but it’s important that he is here now. Maybe in 10 days, two weeks, he can find good form. I think that will be important for us.

“I have spoken with Carlos every day this month and he knows he had to come off the bench and play 20 minutes in this game but he can play more in the future. He’s an important player, he needs another two or three weeks to have good form but when he plays, he knows where to take the ball.

“What happened with him finished one month ago when Carlos came back and everything was finished. Now he needs to play some games, for us, him and his future.”

The Potters drew 1-1 at Tottenham on Wednesday, conceding an injury-time equaliser, but Stoke manager Tony Pulis was delighted with his team’s efforts and is hoping that the performance will provide a springboard for a strong finish to the season.

“Coming on the back of playing Liverpool on Sunday, the effort of the lads was absolutely first class,” enthused Pulis. “If we can put as much effort and commitment into our remaining matches, then we can finish as high as we possibly can in the table.

“We’re desperate to get as many points as we can and this result will give us a tremendous lift for the run-in. If you look at some of the other teams who played in the quarter finals at the weekend, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton and Sunderland all lost their Premier League matches this week, so this was a great effort by the lads. It was just frustrating that we conceded such a late equaliser because we had defended so well against a top team.”

Stoke are likely to be without Matthew Etherington (ankle) and Salif Diao (hamstring), while Mamady Sidibe (knee) remains out. Man City have concerns over Joleon Lescott (groin), Vincent Kompany (calf), and Pablo Zabaleta (thigh).

Manchester City have scored 27 goals and conceded just 14 away from home this season. Only league leaders and neighbours Manchester United can better those figures in the Premier League.