Mark Hughes is likely to have to cope without his wing wizards for the trip to West Ham.
Quoted by Sky Sports, Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has explained that winger Xherdan Shaqiri is unlikely to feature against West Ham this weekend due to a hamstring injury.
The Swiss international picked up the strain in Monday night’s win over Swansea at the Bet365 Stadium, and Hughes confirmed that the former Bayern Munich man is a big doubt for the weekend.
Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates scoring their second goal
“He hasn’t trained all week. He’s got a little bit of damage to the hamstring and at this moment in time he’s struggling to be available,” Hughes said.
“He has played with a slight strain before but that was between games from Saturday to Saturday. There’s a couple less days this time so it’s touch and go,” he added.
Stoke City’s Marko Arnautovic looks dejected
Stoke will definitely be without Marko Arnautovic, who is suspended having collected his fifth yellow card of the season in the win over the Swans.
If Shaqiri also fails to make it, an opportunity could arise for promising young Egyptian Ramadan Sobhi to impress from the start.
The 19-year-old set up Stoke’s second goal on Monday evening and has looked exciting in his cameos to date.
Stoke City’s Ramadan Sobhi celebrates their second goal
Geoff Cameron is another who will miss out for the visitors tomorrow. The American international is recovering well from his knee injury, but this weekend comes too soon for the 31-year-old to make a return to the matchday squad.
Stoke have recovered from a poor start and head into their first ever visit to the London Stadium full of confidence having recorded three successive Premier League victories.
Their improvement has seen them pull away from trouble – five points now separates the Potters from the bottom three – as well as easing the pressure on Hughes, which had begun to grow after Stoke had failed to win any of their first seven games.
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes
City seem to have put those days behind them, however, and a win this weekend will lift Hughes’ side into the top half of the table for the first time this season.
West Ham’s problems in their new stadium have been well documented, and Stoke will relish the prospect of adding to the Hammers home discomforts.
Will Stoke claim all three points from the match at the London Stadium? Leave your predictions below.
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