Gavin Beech is tipping Stoke to overcome Roy Hodgson’s West Brom at the Britannia Stadium tonight…

Fulham manager Mark Hughes has apologised for his spat with Manchester City counterpart Roberto Mancini after the sides’ 1-1 Premier League draw.

Hughes withdrew his handshake after Mancini averted his gaze when they came together at full-time.

“I apologise if I offended anyone,” said Hughes, who was sacked at City and replaced by Mancini in December 2009.

“Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I didn’t think he offered his hand with any sincerity today.”

“I was well beaten 4-1 by City and Roberto in the reverse fixture at our place and I offered him my hand and admitted they were the better side.”

Mancini, who saw his side’s already slender title hopes suffer another setback, claimed to be unaware of any problem.

“I don’t know, I don’t know what he said,” the Italian said. “I shook hands with him, but I don’t understand what he was saying. There’s no problem as far as I’m concerned.”

Mancini admitted it was a difficult afternoon for City, who now lie 10 points behind league leaders Manchester United, having played a game more than their rivals.

“We’re not happy with the draw, it’s another two points lost,” the Italian added. “It’s normal to have some tiredness when you play every three days, but it’s difficult with four or five players missing.

“We played with three strikers today [Balotelli, Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez] but it didn’t work well. You have to play well with the rest of the team and move well, but it just didn’t work.

“In this moment we need all our players available. Every three days, every three days, it’s very hard.

“But our mentality must be different if we want to improve in this way. Every game we want to play at 100%, but it does make it difficult when we can’t change four or five players every game.”

Gavin Beech is tipping Stoke to overcome Roy Hodgson’s West Brom at the Britannia Stadium tonight…

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