Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes the England national team would benefit from more players going abroad during their careers.

England have not had a non-UK based player in a squad for a major tournament since David Beckham and Owen Hargreaves at the 2006 World Cup.

Guardiola cited Spain's international success with Premier League players.

"When they came back into the national team, they were stronger. They were better," Guardiola said.

"They did very good things that helped Spanish football. Could that benefit the England team? I think that's true.

"I think it's a good experience to move to another country and see different realities to your own."

There are a smattering of young English players in Europe's top five leagues including former City winger Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund.

Will Peter Crouch start tonight? We'll have team news for you in 10 minutes' time.

Conor McNamara
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

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Paul Lambert was all smiles in the tunnel after Stoke's scoreless draw at Southampton last weekend. Stoke's maxim has been "don't change a drawing team" and one defeat in six could be survival form.

Nobody expects Stoke to take anything against the champions elect - they lost 7-2 to City in October - but Potters fans will remember Peter Crouch's wonder goal against Roberto Mancini's title winners six years ago this month. Crouch has described it as the best goal of his career.

Austrian full-back Moritz Bauer has already offered to drive to the striker's home and cook him dinner if he can repeat the trick.

That'll be a no then...

Stoke City

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Stoke City manager Paul Lambert: "On any given day you can win a game of football. In a one-off game you can win, and that is the beauty of football. We'll do everything we can to try to win.

"If we try to play football the same way they do then we will be beat - that is the reality. We have to have an idea of another way to try to beat them."

Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer questions why Premier League sides who play Manchester City play with a defensive mentality, rather than setting up to try and win the game.

Let's find out...

Help me people.

We're all feeling down about the state of the game this weekend so I'm after some diamonds in the rough.

Maybe John Scales towed your car out of trouble on the M56? Emile Heskey helped out at your local soup kitchen or Laurent Koscielny helped keep your accordion factory in business?

(One of those is a real thing)

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Or maybe you just support Accrington Stanley or Burnley, or Cardiff, and are buzzing.

Has anything good happened to you around football this week? Please regale us...

Text us on 81111 (UK Only, including your names please) or tweet us at #bbcfootball

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Manchester City haven’t done the league double over Stoke since 1998-99, when they were in the third tier together.

Indeed, the Citizens have only won two of their nine Premier League trips to the Bet365 Stadium (D5 L2), though these have come in their last three visits there and both by a 4-1 scoreline.

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola: "It's almost done. But we are not the champions. The champions are still Chelsea. We have to get the points as soon as possible, knowing that we have the opportunity.

"I know everyone wants to anticipate the situation and what will happen, everyone is thinking about when we will win the title.

"But the best example was [on Wednesday]. Nobody thought we could lose against Basel and we lost against Basel. We need to be relaxed, stay calm and think about Stoke City."

He may be injured and out for two weeks but Argentina have still picked Sergio Aguero for their friendlies against Italy and Spain.

There's a lot of talent in that squad. And Everton's sixth-choice centre-half!

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Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero is set to be out for up to two weeks with a knee injury.

The Argentina international picked up the problem during training and will miss tonight's trip to Stoke.

"During yesterday's training I had a discomfort on my left knee," Aguero said on Twitter. "Now it's time for a full recovery!"

Meanwhile, Stoke forward Mame Diouf is set to miss the game with a shoulder injury.

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I don't think there's any doubt that Pep Guardiola is a good manager. Maybe a great manager.

But can he and Paul Lambert serve up 90 minutes of football that is so entertaining, played in such a good spirit and is so easy on the eye that it makes us all fall in love with the game again?

It's a big ask.

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Football has had a bad weekend.

We have seen pitch invasions and ugly confrontations.

Grown men planting corner flags in the middle of the pitch.

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Well known pundits losing their cool and their minds.

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A whole league suspended after a club's chairman went on the pitch WITH A GUN.

Harry Kane got injured.

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I mean, whatever next?

There have been plenty of jokes down the years about 'cold nights in Stoke' but we all need a heart-warming, well natured, enjoyable few hours.

Please?

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