Van lay-off fears
Skipper can’t sink stubborn Stoke
never expected to go down as a classic. Guardiola made several changes and left out influential duo Raheem Sterling and David Silva, despite the recent fine form of the latter.
There was also no Vincent Kompany in the squad, despite him appearing to be fit for the last few weeks.
Hughes, who returned to his former club, was without injured duo Marko Arnautovic and Glen Johnson, although Bruno Martins returned.
Stubborn
It proved to be a frustrating first half for Guardiola and his men as the Potters put up stubborn resistance.
Stoke restricted the hosts to few chances and could have taken the lead themselves inside the first six minutes.
It was almost a dream start when a slip by Gael Clichy inside his box laid on a chance for Mame Biram Diouf.
But all he could do was scuff his shot and let City off the hook. Guardiola’s men ® looked lost for ideas without Silva pulling the strings in midfield.
Aguero was struggling to make an impact on the game alongside Kevin De Bruyne, while there appeared no width to their attacking play.
The closest City came to troubling Lee Grant was when Aleksandar Kolarov fired in a powerful free-kick which the keeper did well to beat away.
On the stroke of half-time De Bruyne found some rare space in behind the Potters’ defence but failed to control Nicolas Otamendi’s pass at the crucial moment.
Guardiola had some thinking to do during the interval and needed to come up with a plan to create more chances.
But the second half continued like the first one had finished and there was a ripple of desperate applause from home fans when Silva went to warm up.
Saido Berahino threatened to score his first goal since joining from West Brom but saw his shot well blocked by the sliding Otamendi. Leroy Sane was booked for diving before the German international broke clear and set up Aguero, but his goal-bound shot was deflected wide off the head of Erik Pieters.
Guardiola had seen enough and sent on Silva inside the hour and he almost made an immediate impact, helping De Bruyne set up Sane only to see him blaze high and wide from 12 yards out.
De Bruyne came close to setting up a chance for Aguero after 70 minutes but he could not make clean contact before Silva dragged a shot agonisingly wide.
So City’s record of scoring in all their Premier League home games under Guardiola came to a sorry end. MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Caballero; Sagna, Otamendi, Kolarov, Clichy; Fernandinho, Toure; Navas, De Bruyne, Sane; Aguero. Subs: Bravo, Zabaleta, Nolito, Delph, Silva, Stones, Iheanacho. STOKE (4-2-3-1): Grant; Bardsley, Shawcross, Indi, Pieters; Cameron, Allen; Walters, Diouf, Sobhi; Berahino. Subs: Given, Muniesa, Whelan, Afellay, Adam, Imbula, Crouch. Referee: Neil Swarbrick.