Stoke City: Matthew Etherington faces battle to be fit to take on West Ham United

MATTHEW Etherington is rated 50-50 to line up against old club West Ham tomorrow.

There was a time earlier this season when such news might have had fans shrugging their shoulders and moving on.

But the old Etherington has shown signs of re-surfacing in the past few weeks ... and he often saves his best for his old clubs anyway.

He's rarely slipped into the shadows whenever taking on West Ham since leaving them for Stoke four years ago.

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And four of his 13 Premier League goals since arriving at the Brit in January 2009 have come against another of his old employers, Tottenham.

Etherington bagged both in last season's 2-1 victory over Spurs at the Britannia Stadium to follow a tremendous individual effort at White Hart Lane the season before.

Manager Tony Pulis says it will be a late decision on whether to risk Etherington's back problem against the Hammers tomorrow.

"Matty will be touch and go," he admitted. "He hasn't trained with the group this week and he will have a run before we make a decision on Saturday morning.

"It was very disappointing to lose him so early at Fulham last week because he's been back to something like his best recently.

"When he's like that, he's as good as anybody in the Premier League."

Pulis had to fight hard to conceal his frustration at the loss of centre-half Robert Huth for three games following his forearm into Fulham defender Philippe Senderos' face last week.

Losing a warrior like Huth at any time is a setback, but particularly after Stoke's transfer deadline-day activity left them without any obvious back up following Matthew Upson's departure for Brighton and the failure to pin down either Blackburn's Scott Dann or Birmingham's Curtis Davies as a replacement.

"If you ask Robert, he wouldn't do it again... I hope," said Pulis. "It affects the team because he's played every minute of the season.

"He's been one of the signings we will look back on and say what a wonderful recruit he was because he's been a very important cog in the machinery.

"He let himself down as much as anything else and I don't think Robert will be pleased with it.

"He will be big enough to hold his hand up and say he was wrong."

Pulis defended the decision to let Upson join Brighton on loan until the end of the season, effectively ending his Stoke career ahead of his contract expiring in the summer.

Pulis turned the clock back to January 2012 when there were strong Chinese whispers of a move to the orient to join Shanghai Shenhua.

"If I'd have had my way Matthew would have left 12 months earlier when there was an opportunity," Pulis revealed.

"He wanted to play football, and it was very difficult to keep hold of him in lots of respects as he wanted to play week in, week out. You have to look after them as human beings."

KEVIN Nolan will miss tomorrow's clash with Stoke after breaking a toe during West Ham's 3-2 defeat by Tottenham at Upton Park on Monday night.

The Hammers captain came off after 35 minutes of the Premier League clash following a tackle by Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele. It is not yet known how long he faces on the sidelines.

The ex-Newcastle United player is West Ham's top scorer so far this season with six goals.