With every Man City fan in country still reeling after the 5-0 demolition of Steaua Bucharest it falls to Mark Hughes’ Stoke City to try and bring Pep Guardiola’s 100% record down. The hosts may have stumbled to a 1-1 draw with newly promoted Middlesbrough on the opening weekend but the Potters will hope to spring a surprise and defeat City at the Britannia.

When the fixture list was declared, Stoke City’s players must’ve been rubbing their hands together at the chance to claim a victory on Match day one but a spirited showing by Boro pegged them back. Stoke perhaps should’ve done better in the second half and Hughes will eager for his side to show they are capable of competing with the Premier League title favourites.

Man City had no such troubles in their first league match, despite Sunderland forcing City to work hard for their three points it was a victory nonetheless. Paddy McNair will rue his luck as the ball cannoned off his head to gift City the win and Guardiola will know City won’t be as fortunate against Stoke. It could be said they have equally as much chance of winning a penalty against the physical Potters but should the bookies’ favourites need a spot kick to score?

The story dominating the headlines ahead of the game is of course the future of England ‘keeper Joe Hart. Guardiola has made it no secret that he has next to no faith in Hart and looks set to continue with Caballero in goal for City until the proposed move for Claudio Bravo of Barcelona can be finalised. Hart looks set to join either Everton or Sevilla depending on who can best meet his sizeable wage demands – after his showing at Euro 2016, £140,000 a year is more likely than it is a weekly wage for Hart.

City’s injury woes seem to be all but over as Nicolas Otamendi is set to return and partner the vastly overpriced John Stones at the back and new signing Leroy Sane could make his debut after suffering a hamstring problem soon after joining. Stoke will also be buoyed by the potential return of Jack Butland; the ‘keeper’s ankle injury seems to have remedied itself and a late fitness test will decide if he will be involved. Sadly, Ibrahim Afellay and Stephen Ireland will both be missing until the new year for Stoke.

Stoke have fared well against City in recent years winning two of their last four meetings and City hold the unfortunate record of only one away win at the Britannia in the Premier League. This makes SkyBet’s outright market very interesting as Stoke to win is 19/5, a draw is 14/5 and City to win is 7/10. The odds may be stacked in City’s favour but virtually four times returns on Stoke could be worth a bet.

Given Caballero’s iffy ability as a ‘keeper, City are likely to concede so City to win 2-1 at 8/1 is very tempting – their goal scoring antics in midweek may make Aguero to score first and City to win 3-1 at 45/1 even more tempting however.

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