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Stoke City will not be short of incentives when they visit Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday, according to manager Mark Hughes. The two sides sit level on points in mid-table and are just six short of the fabled 40-point mark, which is usually enough to guarantee top-flight safety. With that in mind, the two clubs – who have a relatively comfortable margin over the bottom three – could be forgiven for thinking they had little play for, but Hughes has set his players a series of targets for the remainder of the campaign.
Stoke claimed a 2-1 victory when the sides met at the Britannia Stadium back in December, but have not picked up three points at Villa Park since 1988 in the old Second Division. The Staffordshire side have never finished as the highest-placed Midlands club in the English pyramid system before, but Villa captain Ron Vlaar is determined to build on an impressive 1-0 victory over Chelsea last time out and deal Stoke a setback this weekend.
Stoke will be without Stephen Ireland due to a clause in the player's transfer from Villa in January, but could welcome loanee Oussama Assaidi back after more than a month out with a knee injury. Robert Huth (knee) remains sidelined, fellow defender Erik Pieters (leg) is a doubt, and Charlie Adam and Jonathan Walters are still suspended.
The hosts, meanwhile, will be missing long-term absentees Libor Kozak (broken leg) and Charles N'Zogbia (Achilles), while Jores Okore (knee) is unlikely to feature.