Sunderland v Manchester City – Probable lineups – Star midfielder ruled out

Manchester City will need to maintain their recent run of form against Stoke City on Wednesday if they are to have any chance of catching run-away league leaders Chelsea.

Jones once again went close with a header, this time around knocking it simply wide from one more Larsson edge, prior to City took the lead with 3 mins of the fifty percent staying. They will be looking for a fourth consecutive league win in a row at the Stadium of Light as David Silva and Willy Caballero are expected to be back in the lineup after being rested in the FA Cup. He only had 14 touches and not a single one of them was inside the box, as the pitch map, left, shows.

Guardiola’s men have hit form at just the right time, with seven wins in the last eight games boosting their hopes of ending the campaign with another trophy to add to the growing collection at the Etihad. However, the first half saw City dominate possession, and eventually their pressure paid off just before halftime. With Chelsea 11 points ahead, though having played one game more, and with matches running out for that gap to be closed, it appears to be pretty much over already.

“I would like to play with English players”.

Jack Butland and Stephen Ireland remain absentees, but Hughes said Bruno Martins Indi is highly doubtful for the game, while Marko Arnautovic and Glen Johnson are also doubts, per the Stoke Sentinel’s Martin Spinks.

“We are so happy, we played good”, said Guardiola, according to City’s website. “To achieve in football we need time“.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted that a player’s ability is the defining factor in whether they interest the club – not their age.

Tom’s rating: 6/10 – A decent idea, yet ultimately we didn’t have the quality, or indeed the athleticism, to effectively follow the plan for 90 minutes.

‘At the end, we can not expect that someone of 20, 21 years old is done. It was quite close and we got lucky today.

The Black Cats had previously put up a good fight, but just could not turn their pressure in to goals.