Stoke vs West Brom: Stoke wait on Etherington
Stoke are waiting to see whether Matthew Etherington will be fit enough to return to the side for the Barclays Premier League clash with West Brom at the Britannia Stadium.
The winger has missed the last two games with a back problem and is again touch and go while striker Cameron Jerome is likely to be on the bench after being forced off with a knock to his knee in last weekend's defeat by Newcastle.
Defender Robert Huth serves the final game of a three-match ban so full-back Marc Wilson will again deputise alongside captain Ryan Shawcross in the centre.
Stoke's only away win this season came at The Hawthorns in December but the Potters will be aware of the strengths of on-loan Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku.
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The 19-year-old has scored 13 goals this season, four in his last three games, and Stoke were one of a number of clubs who contacted Chelsea about him last summer.
It was former Chelsea assistant manager Steve Clarke, now in charge at West Brom, who secured the services of the Belgian, and boss Tony Pulis said: "He's done fantastic.
"He was a good signing and he's certainly got better as the season's gone on. He's taken a bit of time to settle in.
"There were quite a few clubs interested in him. I think Steve's contacts with the people at Chelsea most probably got West Brom the player, which is always nice.
"I spoke to (Chelsea assistant first-team coach) Steve Holland but I think Steve had spoken to the hierarchy and West Brom had got in there nice and early."
Stoke will again be without defender Huth so the task of coping with Lukaku will fall to captain Ryan Shawcross and stand-in centre-back Marc Wilson.
Pulis said: "We've missed Robert anyway but Marc has done really well. He's shown his quality and he's a versatile player. Him and Ryan have got on well together.
"I thought he was outstanding against Newcastle. He certainly uses the ball well. It slows the game down and we kept possession a lot better because of that."
Striker Shane Long remains doubtful for West Brom.
The Republic of Ireland international is still struggling with the ankle injury which kept him out of last weekend's win over Swansea.
Right-back Steven Reid is also doubtful due to a groin problem which also sidelined him for Saturday's 2-1 victory at the Hawthorns. Head coach Clarke has no new injuries to deal with.
Clarke has got his best boffins on the case as the inquest continues into the alarming dip in form which scuppered his team's European dreams.
Albion's bright hopes of fighting for European qualification were badly undermined by a terrible run of results over the new year period.
Having taken the Barclays Premier League by storm over the first half of the campaign to put them within touching distance of the top four, Clarke's side failed to win a game in January to leave European football a highly unlikely prospect.
They currently sit in eighth position on 43 points - just four adrift of fifth-placed Arsenal - but need to overhaul not only the Gunners but also Liverpool and Everton if they are to snatch an unlikely Europa League berth.
Managerial rookie Clarke has always played down the Baggies' European ambitions but admits their traditional new year struggles are still causing him a headache.
"Within the team everybody dropped towards the end of December and in January for some reason," he said. "It's something we're still looking at and assessing to find out why.
"I'm trying to forget about January for now. I've got the medical staff looking at it now to see if they can dig anything up. I've got the fitness coach seeing if he can pick up anything from the data that month, just to see if there's anything we can tie it down to. We'll try to address it next season.
"We'll find out how good all these university graduates are and see if they can find the pattern for me."
Clarke added: "I've already got an ambition for next season and that's to win a game in January!
"It's still something we'll look at because if you look at the season as a whole, that one month is an anomaly. It's a big hole in our season and if we hadn't had that hole, maybe it could have been a better season. We have to address that."
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by Pottersruleok
Saturday, March 16 2013, 1:18PM
“This would be my squad for West Brom
Begovic
Wilkinson Shawcross Cameron Wilson
Whitehead N'Zonzi Adam
Jerome Shea
Crouch
Different yes, playing at home yes, but have the squads Pulis has picked in the last several months done any better and we are in desperate need of a win !!”
by whoamitotalk
Saturday, March 16 2013, 10:04AM
“here an idea, a natural left footed winger on the left and a natural right footed winger on the right, a central striker with a supporting striker. A holding midfielder and a creative midfielder, with four across the back”
by whoamitotalk
Saturday, March 16 2013, 10:02AM
“here an idea, a natural left footed winger on the left and a natural right footed winger on the right, a central striker with a supporting striker. A holding midfielder and a creative mifielder, with four across the back”
by whoamitotalk
Saturday, March 16 2013, 10:02AM
“here an idea, a natural left footed winger on the left and a natural right footed winger on the right, a central striker with a supporting striker. A holding midfielder and a creative mifielder, with four across the back”
by SCStokieKev
Friday, March 15 2013, 9:47PM
“Hope Matty proves his fitness. With Brek the only other left footed player in the squad it seems a logical replacement BUT 90mins at the moment may have come too soon for him. Looking like Kights or Superman, depends whether he starts CJ?”
by CptFurious
Friday, March 15 2013, 6:56PM
“If only we had a replacement winger for Etherington... oh wait, we have, Brek Shea.
If only we had a replacement CB for Huth... oh wait, we have one of those also, Geoff Cameron.
Last weekend Pulis started the game with 5 out of 10 outfield players playing out of position. (I'm even classing Wilson as a LB for that, so he was almost doubly out of position)
What's worse is that 3 of the back 4 were out of position yet we had no 'foriegn' position within the line up.
Wilson a LB was playing CB, Cameron a CB was playing RB, Wilkinson a RB was playing LB. Did the musical chairs in the dressing room stop at the wrong time?”
by The_Tool
Friday, March 15 2013, 6:36PM
“Pulis is a total bonehead, he needs to remove coates' tongue from his backside and go away. Sooner the better”
by Pottersruleok
Friday, March 15 2013, 6:18PM
“Shockingly, johnson does not get my point.
He apparently has not noticed that when certain players have been under performing, i.e. Jon Walters, Glenn Whelan and of course Etherington Pulis has not had the capacity to use others in his squad who may have been able to produce something better. i.e. something like a goal or 2 scored. However, he has had the capacity to use the same players over and over again, and based on results so far this season, ones that have not produced much considering we only have won 7 of our 29 games, instead of using others in the 25 man squad !
For example, 2 games ago when Jon Walters had been suffering from the flu all week, yet Pulis insisted on using him in that fateful game. In the FA Cup final when it was very obvious that Etherington was not fit, he played him anyway. Need I go on ?”
by Faceplanty
Friday, March 15 2013, 6:13PM
“Its very simple .
Play players in their positions for best results . TP needs to remember this basic rule .
Ohh and brek shea better then matty is yet to be seen :)”
by Davejjohnson
Friday, March 15 2013, 5:21PM
“No we don't get your point. If Matty is not fit then someone will replace him as usual so what's your point ? Are you suggesting that when we have had injuries in the past TP has not played a replacement and we have turned out with 10 men ? You really are not very bright, that's my point.”