Manchester City
Manchester City have been not been in the best of forms of lateReuters

Defending English Champions Manchester City travel to the Britannia stadium to face Stoke City as they look to close the gap between themselves and Premier League leaders Chelsea.

The Citizens have been performing poorly in the Premier League of late, having failed to record a single win in their last four fixtures. During the last game against Hull City, they nearly ended up losing the game had it not been for James Milner's injury time equaliser from a free-kick.

However, City boss Manuel Pellegrini claims that he is not under pressure, insisting that his side are more or less in the same position as they were last season.

"I never feel pressure, I have repeated the same answer for the same question for the last two years," the Chilean told the Guardian. "The only pressure is my own pressure that I make myself when I don't feel the team is playing well."

"I think we are in a normal position, we are involved in the Champions League. If we win tomorrow we will have just two points less than [the same stage] last season. We have a lot of things to think about, more important than pressure. I don't feel any pressure inside the club or outside."

Although Pellegrini, who has already watched his side succumb to a 0-1 defeat against the Potters during the two sides' earlier meeting at the Etihad, admits that Stoke are a "very good team" especially at the Britannia Stadium, he insists that City will be looking for nothing less than a win on Wednesday.

"They are a very good team, not only at this moment – they are always a very difficult team, especially playing at the Britannia," he added. "But we are going to go as we always do when we play away, to try and win the three points from the first minute."

Meanwhile, Stoke City will certainly be looking to take advantage of City's momentary drop in form and walk away with all three points on Tuesday.

The Potters will be rather confident going into this game, having recorded two wins in their last three Premier League fixtures.

Also, they will be a little boosted by the fact that they were able to beat City at the Etihad this season.

However, Potters boss Mark Hughes despite feeling that his side played very well against City in the reverse fixture, admits that Pellegrini's men are still a very formidable opponent especially away from home.

"We had a great performance as we know last time out against them. They are an exceptional team and we know it will be difficult for us," the Welshman told the Potters' official website.

"They have had a little bit of difficulty at home this season it seems, but away from home they have been very strong. They have only been beaten three times this season."

Still the 51-year-old Welshman insists that his side will be looking to cause as "many problems" as they can to City on Wednesday.

"We will look to be nice and solid, as always, but we are the home team and at times the onus will be on us to take the game to them and try to cause them as many problems as we can."

"That is exactly how I like my teams to play. I like to go out there and dictate to them. We will try to do that on Wednesday evening."

Expected starting lineups:

Stoke City: Begovic, Bardsley, Muniesa, Wollscheid, Wilson, Whelan, Nzonzi, Walters, Ireland, Crouch, Diouf

Manchester City: Hart, Clichy, Demichelis, Kompany, Zabaleta, Fernando, Fernandinho, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero, Nasri

Where to Watch Live

The EPL match is scheduled for 8pm GMT (1:30am IST, 3pm ET), starting with live coverage in India on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD 1  in India. The game can also be watched via live streaming online in India on StarSports.com.

The match will not be telecast in the UK, but live audio commentary of the match will be available on TalkSport Radio. Catch the game live in the US on Westwood One Sports, while the action can also be live streamed online on NBC Sports Extra.

Audience in the Middle East and North Africa can watch the game via live streaming online on Bein Sports Connect, while South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa viewers can do the same on SuperSport online. Australia viewers can watch the game on Fox Sports and live stream it on Fox Sports On Demand.