Manchester City will be hoping to continue their charge for the Premier League title at Stoke on Monday. Following a shock loss to FC Basel on Wednesday, only their fourth loss from 46 matches in all competitions so far this term, City will be looking to regain their form.
Despite the defeat, City will not suffer serious repercussions as their first-leg win ensured a 5-2 victory on agregate. However, the squad are likely to have taken a knock to their pride, with Basel ending a 15 month unbeaten run at the Etihad stadium.
The main concern for City's Oleksandr Zinchenko is to not allow the loss to affect their game against Stoke. Zinchenko wants his team to learn from the mistakes made in Wednesday's match. The 21-year-old said ''At 4-0 [from the first leg] it was not the best game for us, but we didn't have to play like that. We need to make some analysis of that because we are still learning, we are not machines. We can play like that sometimes. The most important thing was we got through , but that was the only positive from the night. But now we have to look forward because we have a lot of games this season, especially in the Premier League and we can win [more] titles. Now we focus on Stoke.''
The last time the two teams met, in October, Stoke were beaten 7-2, but this time 'The Potters' have all to play for to avoid a relegation battle.