Preview: Stoke City vs. Manchester City

Stoke City will be aiming to bag their first win of the new season when they take on Manchester City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

The Potters have opened their campaign with three successive draws and will be looking to new signing Michael Owen to rekindle his old England partnership with Peter Crouch.

However, he is likely to start from the bench as he continues to gain fitness.

Matthew Etherington may recover from a hamstring injury in time for the game and could be named as a substitute.

Jack Rodwell (knee), Pablo Zabaleta (hamstring), Mario Balotelli (eye), Sergio Aguero (knee), Micah Richards (ankle) and Gareth Barry (hernia) make up the list of casualties for Roberto Mancini's squad.

Javi Garcia and Maicon are both in line to make their debuts as a result of the injury crisis, while Gael Clichy could come in for Alexandar Kolarov at left-back.

Current form:

Stoke: DDD Man City: WDW

Possible lineups:

Stoke: Begovic; Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson; Cameron, Whelan, Whitehead, Walters, Kightly; Crouch

Man City: Hart; Maicon, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; Y Toure, Garcia, Silva, Nasri, Milner; Tevez

Sports Mole says: 1-2