Man City v Stoke City preview- December 26
Posted on | December 25, 2009 | 2 Comments
Game :- Man City vs Stoke City
Venue :- Eastlands, Manchester
Date :- December 26, 2009
Time :- 15.00 UK time
Roberto Mancini’s first game as Manchester City manager sees the Citizens play host to Stoke City this weekend.
Italian Mancini, who enjoyed a fair level of success with Inter Milan, was unveiled as the new manager of Manchester City shortly after their 4-3 win over Sunderland last weekend. The way Mark Hughes was shown the door did not go down well with City’s players- especially Craig Bellamy and Shay Given, and it remains to be seen how Mancini gets along with the duo.
City have a defensive crisis for this game. Wayne Bridge, Nedum Onouha and Joleon Lescott are all injured, while Micah Richards is a doubt. An ankle problem is the reason why Emmanuel Adebayor and Shaun Wright Phillips might both be unable to feature. Midfielder Nigel De Jong is available for selection after serving his one match ban.
Man City form- last five games- all competitions- most recent first- Man City scorers in brackets
Man City 4-3 Sunderland ( Roque Santa Cruz*2, Craig Bellamy, Carlos Tevez)
Tottenham 3-0 Man City
Bolton 3-3 Man City ( Carlos Tevez*2, Micah Richards)
Man City 2-1 Chelsea ( Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor)
Man City 3-0 Arsenal ( Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright Phillips, Vladimir Weiss)
Pick to score :- Carlos Tevez. The Argentine, as you can see, has scored in four of City’s last five games.
Like City, Stoke will also welcome a person from suspension for this game. In their case it is German defender Robert Huth. The Potters have gone four games without a win, and were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa last week.
Telling stat:- Stoke have won only once on the road in the league this season, while City are yet to be defeated at home.
Stoke Form- last five games-all competitions- most recent first- Stoke scorers in brackets
Aston Villa 1-0 Stoke
Stoke 2-2 Wigan ( Sanli Tuncay, Ryan Shawcross)
Arsenal 2-0 Stoke
Blackburn 0-0 Stoke
Stoke 1-0 Pompey ( Ricardo Fuller)
Prediction :-Winning start for Roberto Mancini as Man City manager. Man City 3-1 Stoke ( Tevez, Ireland, Santa Cruz/ Sidibe)
Related posts:
- Arsenal vs Stoke City preview- December 18
- Stoke City vs Manchester City – betting preview
- Manchester United vs Stoke City preview
- Stoke City vs Arsenal preview
- Stoke City vs Manchester United Betting Preview
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2 Responses to “Man City v Stoke City preview- December 26”
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December 25th, 2009 @ 11:05 AM
Mancini is a good coach and he lead Inter Milan to take over the Italy throne from Juventus and AC Milan. He will able to unleash the power of Man City squad with many talented players.
Visitor Stoke City has a bad away record. Nothing much they can do here when Mancini thirst to have victory in prove of his ability.
December 25th, 2009 @ 7:09 PM
Only reason Mancini won those trophies were because the rest of the top teams were rocked with scandals. Ever wonder why Barca, Real Madrid and the rest of the European top clubs never went in for him?