04 December 2015
Stoke City vs. Manchester City, 13.45 CET
Manchester City’s 4-1 thrashing of Hull during the week was their second win in five matches in all competitions, a result on which the Citizens will be looking to build against Stoke in Saturday’s early kick-off.
Fortunately for Manuel Pellegrini, facing off against former City manager Mark Hughes, attacking trio David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero are expected to be passed fit to play together for just the third match this season. The last time all three started, the Citizens put six goals past Newcastle.
Stoke, however, are a notoriously tough nut to crack in front of their own fans and last season’s 4-1 defeat at the Britannia Stadium was their first ever home reverse to City in their seven and a half years in the Premier League.
A victory for the Potters could lift them as high as seventh in the table, an impressive achievement given that they have scored the fewest number of goals in England’s top flight (11) so far this season.
Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Bayern Munich, 15.30 CET
The pick of the weekend’s action is likely to be found in Germany as two of the country’s form teams, Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern Munich meet at Borussia-Park.
Having seen his charges pick up 23 points from a possible 27, Andre Schubert will face arguably the toughest test of his managerial career so far in trying to stop league leaders Bayern Munich who count Juventus loanee Kingsley Coman and ex-Bianconero Arturo Vidal among their ranks.
Remarkably, Bayern have bettered Gladbach’s stunning form in recent weeks, winning 13 and drawing one of their opening 14 Bundesliga matches, scoring 42 goals along the way – more than double the amount netted by each team outside the division’s top four.
Deportivo La Coruna vs. Sevilla, 22.00 CET
Rounding off the weekend’s action will be Unai Emery’s Sevilla who travel to Galicia to face in-form Deportivo La Coruna.
Like Pellegrini’s City, the Andalusians registered a morale-boosting cup victory in midweek over second-tier opposition and another win on Saturday evening at the Riazor could lift them as high as sixth should other results go in their favour.
Doing so will be no easy feat given the recent form of their hosts, who sit in fifth place after losing just two of their last 10 La Liga matches in a run that included a memorable 2-0 victory over bitter rivals Celta Vigo at the end of last month.
