Jesus is finally available for Manchester City, Klopp faces a choice between Origi and Sturridge and Costa may have to bide time for return to Chelsea starting XI
As Manchester United prepare to visit the Britannia Stadium, examining Stoke City’s record against the league’s best sides this season offers an indication of where Mark Hughes and José Mourinho should both be looking for improvement. Stoke’s record against the elite is awful: five of their six matches against the league’s top six sides have ended in heavy defeats. They have lost 3-1 at Arsenal, 4-2 at Chelsea and 4-1 at Liverpool, while they were thumped 4-1 and 4-0 at home by Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur respectively. Good enough to take the lead against Arsenal and Liverpool, and also to equalise twice against Chelsea, Stoke ended up paying a high price for their leaky defending. Notable absentees from that list, however, are United, whose profligate finishing allowed Stoke to escape Old Trafford with a 1-1 draw in October. The lesson for Stoke is that they need to be wary of the dangers of going blow for blow with quality opponents, while United must become more ruthless if they are to qualify for the Champions League. JS
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