Man Utd v Stoke City 31st Jan 12

Manchester United v Stoke City 

Second placed United take on eighth placed Stoke City at Old Trafford looking to keep the pressure on leaders Manchester City who they trail by three points whilst Stoke would not move up the table if they pulled off a shock win

United have scored 31 goals more than Stoke this season, 54/23, only Manchester City with 60 have scored more goals   

Stoke have conceded more goals than the Red Devils 33/21 with United having the joint second best defensive record in the PL

Stoke have the worst goal difference of any team outside the bottom five 

United have been vulnerable at Old Trafford compared to last season with struggling Blackburn taking all three points and Newcastle leaving with a draw 

Stoke have taken 14 points on the road out of a possible 33 and have struggled to find the net with just eight goals, only Fulham scored fewer 

United have used the most different starters this season in the PL with 26, which is five more than Stoke

United have used 11 players 21 or under whilst Stoke have used none 

At the other end of the scale Stoke have used 11 players 30 or over, the second most in the PL and two more than United, although United have the two oldest outfield players, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes    

Wayne Rooney is the leading scorer for either side with 13 PL goals some six more than Stoke’s Peter Crouch

United are the top scorers in the opening 15 minutes of matches with seven goals, four more than Stoke and at the other end of the scale they have yet to concede a goal in the opening 15 minutes of matches   

United are also the top scorers in the last 10 minutes of matches with 11 some six more than Stoke have managed 

With 11 United have kept the most clean sheets in the Pl and that is four more than Stoke

United have only conceded more than one goal four times this season compared to nine times by Stoke 

United have scored in all but one of their 22 PL matches this season and are averaging 2.19 goals a match compared to Stoke’s 1.045

Stoke have conceded five goals from penalty kicks some three more than United

United have conceded in six of their 11 home matches this season and have scored in all 11 matches 

On the road Stoke have a good recent record with three wins and a draw in their last five matches and just one defeat, 3-0 v Manchester City 

United have only conceded the first goal four times this season and have never come back to win, losing three and drawing one of those matches  

Stoke have conceded first in 11 matches and have once come back to win, 2-1 at Wolves  

Stoke have won seven of the eight matches where they have scored first 

Stoke have one ever present this season, Jonathan Walters and have only once been substituted in those 22 matches 

Matthew Etherington is Stoke’s most subbed player coming off 13 times in 20 starts 

Patrice Evra has started all but one of United’s 22 PL matches this season, one more than Nani, who is now out injured 

United have used players from 17 different countries, England have supplied the most with 14 players, with Brazil next on the list with three

Stoke have used players from 12 different countries, England have supplied 14 players with the Republic of Ireland next with four 

Stoke have managed three clean sheets on the road and have failed to score five times in 11 away days   

Fixture History 

Earlier in the season Stoke held United to a 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium to half a run of six defeats at the hands of the Red Devils 

At Old Trafford United are 3/0 v Stoke and have outscored Stoke 11/1 

Last season it was 2-1 to United at Old Trafford with a 62^nd minute winner from Nani after Dean Whitehead had cancelled out a Javier Hernandez 

When United won 5-0 back in November 2008 Danny Welbeck scored his first ever PL goal with an 83 minute strike having come on as a substitute in his third PL appearance 

Click here to see all the PL matches between the two