Stoke v Man City (12:45 GMT)

At the end of May 2002, both clubs were feeling the warm glow of promotion. Manchester City were going up! We are going up! after topping Division One with 99 points and Stoke were going up! We are going up! after beating Brentford 2-0 in the Division Two play-off final.

More than 13 years on, they have taken wildly different routes to becoming Premier League mainstays, Man City spending big to become permanent residents in the top four and Stoke via Tony Pulis and now Mark Hughes pitching a spot in mid-table, having finished between 9th and 14th in all seven of their Premier League campaigns. Now both can be cautiously optimistic of taking their next step – for City, making a serious impact on the Champions League, for Stoke a top eight finish. And in going about achieving their goals they share something else in common: a fresh injection of entertaining panache.

Raheem Sterling and particularly Kevin De Bruyne have reignited City’s attack which this afternoon is likely to be bolstered by the return of David Silva (Sergio Agüero is injured, as is Yaya Touré). After all of Leicester’s wins and Vardy’s goals, West Ham beating the best away and Chelsea losing to the rest just about anywhere, could Man City be on the verge of establishing some semblance of normality to Premier League life? Bar a trip to the Emirates in a couple of weeks, City do not face another one of last year’s top six until mid-February. Given the relative levels of floundering from their expected title rivals it is not inconceivable that this vibrant, goals-from-all-angles City stay at the summit until May.

Then again, City’s heavy defeat at the hands of Jürgen Klopp’s ball-haranguers is still fresh in the mind and they face another challenge today in Stoke, who have reequipped with their own firepower. After a stuttering start Stoke have found some form with only two defeats in their last 12 games. Mark Hughes has Ibrahim Afellay back in the fold, while Xherdan Shaqiri has settled, Bojan is back near his best and Marko Arnautovic – perhaps with a kick up the jacksie from the added quality of those around him – is starting to realise his potential.

On the one hand Hughes’s squad is a oddly comic clash of Pulis relics and new shiny talent, a sturdy tree finally taken home and tinsled. But that base of English and Irish grit mixed with added splatter of Guardiola cast-offs may be bearing fruit, and ambitions of breaking into the top eight should not be written off just yet. Any result today against his former club would be a welcome bonus for Hughes in achieving Stoke’s next ambition.

Mark Hughes’s former squeeze comes round for dinner and he pulls out all the stops, chivalrous chap that he is. Wine, candles, that posh cutlery that’s never been used. Home-cooked shrimp tortellini. Man City are at the Britannia so out goes Jonathan Walters and in comes Ibrahim Afellay alongside Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic in midfield, that tantalising trio scheming behind Bojan in attack. Woof. Hughes has gone full skills.

There’s some talent in blue too, mind. David Silva and Joe Hart return to City’s line-up after injuries, although that boost is off-set by knocks to Sergio Agüero and Yaya Touré this week who miss out. Wilfried Bony will lead the line, and Fernando is chosen ahead of Fabian Delph to anchor midfield alongside Fernandinho.

Stoke City: Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters; Cameron, Whelan; Shaqiri, Afellay, Arnautovic; Bojan

Subs: Haugaard, Joselu, Wilson, Van Ginkel, Adam, Diouf, Walters

Manchester City: Hart; Sagna, Otamendi, Demichelis, Kolarov; Fernando, Fernandinho; De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling; Bony

Subs: Caballero, Navas, Kelechi, Delph, Garcia, Clichy, Humphreys

Referee: Martin Atkinson