Stoke City

BENJANI Mwaruwari has spoken of his fears that his season might be over after injury forced him to sit out most of Manchester City's matches. The Zimbabwe captain has made limited appearances for City in the 2009/09 English Premier League season after suffering a serious thigh injury during pre-season training in August last year. The 30-year-old striker featured in only seven league games, scoring one goal away at Fulham.  

GEORDIE striker Andy Carroll has been rewarded for his point-saving goal at Stoke by picking up the Carling Player of the Month prize for March. The 20-year-old came from the bench at the Britannia Stadium to head a late leveller for Alan Shearer's side and in doing so earn the Magpie legend his first point in the Toon hotseat. Carroll scooped 40% of the votes as he beat off competition from Habib Beye, Steve Harper, Nicky Butt and Sebastien Bassong for the award.  

WHEN THEY come to collate the season's Premier League gaffes, this game will surely provide the grand finale, writes DAVE EVANS. They can show referee Alan Wiley's ridiculous interpretation of what is a foul and what isn't; then show Jamie Carragher's comical control of a football which allowed David Di Michele to run through on goal. Then of course they can show the great Italian himself.  

"There was a lot of disappointment after the Chelsea game where the performance was well below the standards we've set ourselves this season, so it was drummed into us all week to make sure that there wasn't a repeat of that against Aston Villa. "We want to finish this season on a high and cap off a very good season, rather than let it slip by thinking about what we're doing for our holidays or something, and obviously we have the big carrot of qualifying for a European spot. "I've been there ...  

As the football season reaches its climax, Mirror.co.uk has teamed up with Britannia Building Society to offer two lucky winners the opportunity to join the Premier League's loudest supporters at the Britannia Stadium with something to cheer about. We have two pairs of tickets to give away to the sell-out match, plus two signed Stoke City shirts, so enter for your chance to see the Potters celebrate securing their top-flight status when they take on Wigan Athletic. For 11 years, Britannia Building ...  

Reports suggested that the Potters boss was due to be rewarded with a three-year contract after securing the club's top-flight status for another season with Saturday's 2-1 success at Hull. But Pulis is happy with his current arrangement and insists he has not even discussed plans for the 2009/10 campaign with chairman Peter Coates, never mind his own future. "I haven't sat down with Peter to talk fully about next season, never mind talk about any three-year contract," Pulis told The Sentinel. ...  

Robin van Persie shocks Chelsea at the bridge, Lionel Messi rips Sevilla apart, Cristiano Ronaldo proves why he's going to win the Ballon d'Or, plus more. One Click Away. Histon are great. There's no getting around that fact.  

Mick McCarthy hopes to emulate Premier League critic-confounders Stoke City when he takes Wolverhampton Wanderers team into the top flight next season. The Molineux manager has expressed his admiration for the Potteries outfit after their 11th win of the a hugely successful campaign, over Hull City last Saturday, guaranteed their safety. But while McCarthy may not share similar footballing principles to Tony Pulis's men, he praised them for the manner in which they have acquitted themselves, particularly the equanimity with which Pulis has faced every situation.  

Before they had even kicked a ball in the Barclays Premier League, the Potters were being written off as relegation certainties by many pundits. That view seemed to be confirmed by a 3-1 opening day defeat at Bolton Wanderers, with one bookmaker even paying out to those who had backed Stoke to go straight back down. However Saturday's 2-1 win at Hull City confirmed their safety and Delap believes the turning point came in their first home fixture when they launched a rousing fightback to overcome Aston Villa 3-2 thanks to Mamady Sidibe's winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.  

Ricky Sbragia has urged the Sunderland strikers Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cissé to adapt to shake off the shackles placed on them by opposition teams. The two frontmen have been tamed in recent weeks and have scored just once each in the club's last 11 games after being given special attention by defenders. A debate over whether or not Jones and Cissé can play together is ongoing on Wearside but Sbragia, who started with the Frenchman on the bench as he opted for a 4-5-1 formation at Bolton ...