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Man City Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Stoke City

Manchester City face Stoke City at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night in fine form and looking to keep up the pressure on Chelsea.

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In truth, the league leaders look immune to any challengers but Pep Guardiola's side have impressed of late and the City boss will be desperate to keep that up.

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There are no fresh injury concerns for the hosts and they will be well placed to beat Mark Hughes' inconsistent side.


MAN CITY INJURIES


Vincent Kompany is back in training but he is unlikely to feature in the starting XI, if he is in the squad at all. Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus are long-term absentees.

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MAN CITY SUSPENSIONS


City are enjoying some good fortune with injuries currently and they do not have any suspensions, either.

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MAN CITY POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP


Pep Guardiola's teams are becoming slightly easier to predict, although he did throw in a curve ball by resting Kevin De Bruyne at Sunderland. De Bruyne is likely to return on Wednesday, however, and most likely alongside David Silva, who sat out last week's FA Cup win over Huddersfield.

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That change to the midfield would mean Fernandinho can move to left-back, a role he has been used in recently and one which allows City to mix up their tactics in the middle of the pitch, with one of their central players moving out to the left when the Brazilian moves inside.

Other than that, Sergio Aguero will continue up front, Willy Caballero will be in goal and John Stones and Aleksandar Kolarov may continue at centre-back, although that area of the team is hardest to predict.

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STOKE CITY TEAM NEWS


The biggest concern for Mark Hughes will be the availability of Marko Arnautovic, who is suffering with illness. Glen Johnson and Bruno Martins India are also doubts, having picked up injuries against Middlesbrough at the weekend.

Stephen Ireland and Jack Butland are long-term absentees, although Butland's ankle is now fully healed following a long spell on the sidelines and he is ready to begin training once again.

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Stoke are one of the Premier League's most inconsistent sides, having won five, lost five and drawn four of their 14 league matches since the start of December.

They have, however, lost five of their last six league away games, only winning at Sunderland back in January.


BEST OPTA MATCH FACTS


  • Manchester City have won three of their last four Premier League games against Stoke (L1), netting exactly four goals in each victory.

  • Stoke have scored just one goal in their eight Premier League visits to the Etihad, in a 1-0 win in August 2014.

  • Sergio Aguero has scored eight goals in seven Premier League appearances against the Potters – only against Newcastle (11) and Tottenham (10) has he scored more in the competition.

  • Pep Guardiola’s side won the reverse fixture 4-1 at the Bet365 Stadium – but Manchester City haven’t done the league double over Stoke City since they were in the third tier together in 1998-99.

  • At least one player has scored a brace in each of the last four Premier League meetings between these sides (Nolito, Kelechi Iheanacho, Marko Arnautovic and Sergio Aguero x2).


TV COVERAGE & KICK-OFF TIME


The game kicks off at 20:00 UK time on Wednesday, March 8, and is available on Sky Sports 1 in the UK.

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