LAMBERT SAYS SHAQ CAN!

STOKE CITY manager Paul Lambert has told his team to show a ruthless edge against Manchester City tonight — and he hopes Xherdan Shaqiri can help provide it. The Swiss playmaker was overlooked by Pep Guardiola when he was manager at Bayern Munich and eventually he was shipped out to Inter Milan. But Lambert believes Shaqiri, who has scored three goals in his last four games, is better for the experience. ‘He was only a kid at Bayern,’ said Lambert. ‘He was a young player at a massive football club with Arjen Robben in front of him. ‘You could say things never worked out for him at Bayern, but he was deemed good enough to be there at that club. ‘Big clubs bring you on leaps and bounds.’ Stoke, thrashed 7-2 at City in October, would climb out of the bottom three with an unlikely win tonight and Lambert added: ‘We have to be ruthless when we have the ball and try to hurt them.’ City boss Guardiola confirmed David Silva would play despite training on his own in Valencia last week while visiting his wife and baby son Mateo, who was born pre-term. ‘Family comes first but David will be ready,’ said the Manchester City manager.