The weekend’s Premier League action kicks off at the Britannia Stadium where Stoke City face leaders Manchester City.

Mark Hughes’ side have won five of their last eight games in the league but go into this game having booked their place in the last four of the League Cup with victory over Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday evening.

Victory here would see the hosts move level on points with seventh place Crystal Palace and to within three points of the top five ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures.

Captain Ryan Shawcross returns after serving a one-match suspension and Mame Biram Diouf should feature after missing out midweek due to family reasons though fellow forward Peter Crouch is out with a hamstring problem.

Diouf is 11.0 (10/1) to open the scoring with Paddy Power with Bojan available at the same price with the same firm.

The home win is as highly priced as the 5.5 (9/2) on offer from William Hill, with the visitors 1.73 (8/11) with Betfred who have the draw at 4.1 (31/10).

Manuel Pellegrini’s men ended a winless run of three games with victory over Southampton last weekend, and followed that result with victory over Hull City in their League Cup quarter final.

Another triumph here would ensure they remain top of the table though anything but three points will give Leicester City, Manchester United and Arsenal the chance to leapfrog them.

Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure are both out injured and join Samir Nasri, Pablo Zabaletta and captain Vincent Kompany on the sidelines.
Elaquim Mangala is suspended though David Silva is in line to make his first league start in two months after returning from injury a week ago.

Wilfried Bony is 5.5 (9/2) to get the first goal of the game with a number of firms, with Kevin De Bruyne widely available at 7.5 (13/2).

Four of the last five meetings between the sides have featured less than two goals, as did the 2011 FA Cup final where a Yaya Toure strike was enough to see the Citizens get past the Potters.

You can back there being 0-1 goals this time around at 4.0 (3/1) with several bookmakers.