Mancini short on numbers

Roberto Mancini is facing a severe shortage of players for Manchester City’s Barclays Premier League trip to Stoke.

Carlos Tevez has been granted leave to return to Argentina for family reasons and is definitely out, with Craig Bellamy (knee) and Vincent Kompany (groin) set to join him on the sidelines.

In addition, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stephen Ireland and Martin Petrov all suffered knocks against the same opposition at the weekend and could miss out.

Adam Johnson does return after being cup-tied for the fifth-round tie against the Potters at the weekend.

Team (from): Given, Taylor, Richards, Zabaleta, Onuoha, Toure, Lescott, Boyata, Garrido, Sylvinho, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Vieira, Barry, De Jong, Petrov, Ibrahim, Adebayor.