STOKE CITY 2, MANCHESTER CITY 0
Two goals by Marko Arnautovic in the first 15 minutes
City lose Fernando to hamstring injury
Manuel Pellegrini concerned about fatigue and City injury list
Two early goals from Marko Arnautovic, who passed up a couple of presentable chances to take the match ball home, sent Manchester City packing from the Britannia Stadium on an especially cold and blustery day with another casualty added to their increasingly lengthening injury list.
With the games coming thick and fast for City, who are through to the semi finals of the Capital One Cup, Manuel Pellegrini bemoaned the punishing schedule of games on the state the beleaguered City squad.
He said: “We’re playing with just 13 [fit] players in all competitions. We didn’t have many chances to score and we defended very badly.
“It’s too many games for the same names.”
He added that he would have to wait for a medical report for Fernando who limped off late in the game with a hamstring injury, leaving the Blues down to 10 men.
The Brazilian midfielder will join the likes of Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, Samir Nasri, and Pablo Zabaleta, on the sidelines.
City haven’t won an away game in the Premier League since September, with no goals in the last three games away from the Etihad Stadium.
Mark Hughes’ side oozed confidence as Xherdan Shaqiri twice provided the ammunition for Arnautovic and the Potters were worth more than just a 2-0 win.
City midfielder Fernando was bamboozled both times by the Swiss international before their nervous defence was split time and again by passes to the Arnautovic and fellow forward Bojan Krkic.
The first goal after just seven minutes saw Shaqiri trick his way past Fernando, race past Kolarov and cut the ball back for Arnautovic to finish.
The second, on 15 minutes, saw Fernando beaten again allowing space for Shaqiri’s through ball to find Arnautovic who extended their lead.
Arnautovic slipped when clean through with just Hart to beat before the break yet still saw the ball come back off the post when the hat trick seemed certain.
Bojan and Arnautovic could have extended the lead before Arnautovic later tried to return an earlier favour to the Swiss playmaker with a square ball from the left but Shaqiri couldn’t make it 3-0.
Without the calming presence of injured captain Kompany, City’s expensively assembled defence were slow and easily turned by the motivated Potters with their attacking players Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, and David Silva (himself making a first start in weeks after injury) efficiently closed down by Stoke pressing leaving Wilfried Bony starved of service.
Any hope of retrieving the situation was lost when Fernando went off injured in the second half with City having already made all their substitutions but in truth this was never a day that would have seen a comeback from a tired City side who must pick themselves up to try and beat Borussia Monchengladbach at the Etihad on Tuesday.