The Inside Line: Pre-Stoke City (A)

Stoke City
"It’s a great way to start the New Year. Stoke have been a Premier League club for the last however many years. It’s a great stadium, there’s a really passionate support up there and I’m sure the players will be relishing going to that arena and pitting their wits against them."

Travelling City fans
"We are always appreciative of the fans' support, both home and away. There’s a lot of travelling to be done in the Championship…Ipswich away on a Wednesday night and trips like that. I’m sure the fans will be looking forward to going up and hopefully supporting the lads to a victory."

Celebrating New Year’s Eve early
"We’ll all be in our beds by the New Year! We’ll celebrate it about 9pm, bring the clocks forward. We want to enjoy the moment of course but we’ve got to prepare properly and our focus has to be on the matches."