Stoke City vs Southampton team news and line-ups: Ryan Shawcross, Glenn Johnson and Jonathan Walters pass late fitness tests for Potters

RYAN SHAWCROSS, Glenn Johnson and Jonathan Walters have passed late fitness tests for Stoke as they get set to welcome Southampton to the Britannia.

Marc Muniesa returns to the bench, but Geoff Cameron and Phil Bardsley are still out with a knee injuries but could be back at the end of the month.

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Jack Butland, Stephen Ireland and Ibrahim Afellay are all back in the new year.

As for Southampton the long term absence of Charlie Austin with a dislocated shoulder is a big blow.

The Saints top scorer is not expected to return until April 2017.

Dusan Tadic is on the bench while Sofiane Boufal keeps his place.

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Southampton bounced back from a disappointing Europa League exit with a home win against Middlesbrough thanks to Boufal's first league goal for the Saints.

Match Stats

• Stoke City have won just one of their previous four home Premier League games against Southampton (D2 L1), with both teams scoring in each match.
• Southampton have scored in each of their last 13 league visits to Stoke, last failing to score there in a league game in August 1977.
• This will be Mark Hughes’ 400th Premier League game as a manager and will be the sixth manager to reach this landmark in the competition.
• Mark Hughes has overseen Premier League victories against 70 different managers overall and this is his first ever meeting in the competition with Claude Puel.
  

  

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• Stoke have won three of their last four Premier League home games (W3 D0 L1); the same number of victories as they had managed in their previous 12 games at the Bet365 Stadium.
• The Potters have only failed to find the net in one of their last 11 Premier League matches.
• Southampton have only allowed their opponents 37 shots on target in the Premier League this season; less than any other side.
• Saints have won only one of their last seven Premier League away games (W1 D2 L4), including two defeats in a row at Hull and Crystal Palace most recently.
• Of goalkeepers to have played 50+ Premier League games, Fraser Forster has the joint-second best goals conceded per game average (0.84 per game). Jens Lehmann is level with the Englishman, while only Petr Cech (0.75 per game) has a better ratio.
• Forster has kept a clean sheet in 40% of his Premier League appearances (25 in 63).