Manchester City travel to Stoke this evening in what has become a must win game, and Edin Dzeko claims that right now away games are just what City need.

With the gap at the top now at an intimidating 7 points, Manchester City must stop the rot and get 3 points for the first time in what seems like an age.

City striker Edin Dzeko has told the club’s website that playing away from home is preferable to being at the Etihad due to the difficulty in breaking down teams happy to take a point in Manchester:

We are struggling at home against teams who come to the Etihad to defend in numbers because we have had problems finding a way to create good scoring opportunities – so maybe it is better we play away just now.

This is not a match that you would choose to turn around a bad run, with Stoke traditionally being a very difficult team to break down at home. This may not be quite as true now that former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes in in charge rather than Tony Pulis but they have still only lost 5 games at home this season, and beat Manchester City in the reverse fixture 1-0 back in August.

This is a game where a good performance takes a backseat to simply getting the 3 points. Of course in an ideal world we want both, but controlling a match can come later. Right now, City just need to concentrate on staying in touch at the top.

With Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony not expected back for the match, the midfield is a particularly contentious area for fans. Fernando has been widely criticized for his performance last time out and many are calling for Frank Lampard to start in center midfield. Whether Manuel Pellegrini feels that Lampard can make an impact from the start is a different matter, as he has seemed loathe to play him for a full 90 minutes so far this season.

Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Samir Nasri are the key men in this game. If they can click then recent defensive difficulties may be irrelevant. However if Manchester City are unable to break stoke down, they could well fall foul of a counter-attacking move that would put us in a extremely difficult position. Edin Dzeko may be right when he says that away games are what we need right now, a bit more open and a chance to get the attacking game flowing more.