Kolarov up for Stoke challenge

After Sunday's handsome win at Fulham, City face an altogether different challenge at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

Three visits there in the past two seasons have yielded nothing more than a solitary Premier League point and after three successive wins, Tony Pulis' men will be confident of maintaining that impressive record. But Kolarov realises City cannot afford to lose the momentum that has now seen them clamber to within three points of the summit.

It is therefore imperative Roberto Mancini's men match Stoke's brawn, then use their superior passing game to get a result. The challenge is one Kolarov relishes. And the tough-tackling Serb is adamant there are enough similarly-minded characters in the Blues dressing room to gain a positive result.

"I am fine with the physical side of the game here," he told the club`s official website. "Stoke especially play hard and are a very physical team. But we are strong as well. We can match them and battle as well as play football.

"I have seen a lot of their games on TV so I know how they play. They do very well at home but I think we are better than them."

Source: PA

Source: PA