Stoke City blow as Xherdan Shaqiri and Bruno Martins Indi ruled out of Bournemouth clash
But Joe Allen should be back as the Potters look to bounce back from 7-2 hammering at Manchester City
MARK HUGHES will be without both Xherdan Shaqiri and Bruno Martins Indi against Bournemouth on Saturday.
But the Stoke City boss is hopeful that Joe Allen will have overcome the concussion sustained on World Cup duty for Wales and will make it.
Shaqiri has an ankle injury and Martins Indi is sidelined again with groin trouble after his second-half appearance at Manchester City.
On top of that Ryan Shawcross's back injury could mean he misses a second successive game.
Said Hughes: "Joe Allen looks OK. He’s trained for a couple of days now and we feel he will be back.
"But Shaqiri has sprained his ankle so is a doubt. Martin Indi is out, as is Tom Edwards who hasn’t trained this week."
Stoke were hammered 7-2 at City last time out and Hughes is looking for a big response against Premier League strugglers Bournemouth.
A win could take the Potters into the top ten and Hughes said: "We have come through a very difficult period.
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"But now we face a better set of fixtures and have an opportunity to climb the league.
"We are only one win away from the top 10. It’s very early days and we are positive going into the rest of the season."
As for that result at the Etihad...
"What we have here are owners who understand football and who understand there isn’t a straight line between success and failure.
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"We didn’t perform anywhere near what we know we are capable of however we came up against a side at the very top of their game. We are not in denial. We will learn from the match.
"But we won’t be the first or last going up against Man City at the moment to find it difficult.
"Given our fixtures we are probably a little ahead of where we thought we might be. Not withstanding last week, we are confident.
"I’m a little bit surprised with Bournemouth’s start but I expect them to have another solid season. They have players, like ourselves, who can win games so we will have to be mindful of that.
"We should look forward to our next set of fixtures and aim to pick up maximum points from them."
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