“In this game we are playing with the same players in the last three games”, Pellegrini said, bemoaning injuries to Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero.
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Stoke grew in confidence with this goal and their counter-attacking approach was working a treat, with them doubling their lead inside 15 minutes – Shaqiri and Arnautovic combining once more.
It was a sweet victory for Stoke manager Mark Hughes who was sacked by Man City six years ago.
Manuel Pellegrini insists he is satisfied with Manchester City’s performance in the UEFA Champions League as they prepare to wrap up the group stage against Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday. That’s what big players do and we’re happy to have him at this football club.
“It was a disappointing start and we could not recover from it”, England keeper Hart said. “It is not about one name, it is about the same players playing in all competitions”. It was a defeat. “We must continue with the same 11 or 12 players, We wait for the medical report”.
“Well, in important teams maybe if you take out a [Lionel] Messi for three months of the season or Cristiano [Ronaldo] for three months of the season, of course I think those teams are not the same”. The ex-Bayern Munich man shrugged Fernando off easily on the half-turn before piercing the visitors’ defence with a pinpoint pass to Arnautovic.
He’s now up to five goals and two assists in 14 Premier League matches and has discovered a deft goal scoring touch that has been absent to this point in his career.
Manchester City are standing even with Leicester City atop the table in the Premier League right now, but they well know by now that their position is a tenuous one. In the eight games he has appeared, they’ve kept seven clean sheets and conceded just one goal.
Arnautović could have had his hat-trick before the break, but the fact that the woodwork denied him didn’t matter in the end, with the two early goals enough to help Stoke bounce back from defeat last time out against Sunderland.
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City were forced to play the last 18 minutes with 10 men after Fernando limped off but in truth hardly any of their players turned up in what was woeful display against a very impressive Stoke side. He scored with both of his shots on target today.
