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Hughes has addressed the injury issues within his squad as he looks
ahead to this afternoon’s Barclays Premier League game against Stoke
City at the Britannia Stadium.
“We think we’re going to be okay. The
injuries we’ve got at the moment are Daniel Sturridge and Ched Evans as
well as the long-term injuries,” he stated.
But Hughes’ biggest problem could come from a couple of knocks suffered during Wednesday night’s win over Newcastle.
“Pablo
[Zabaleta] and Shaun Wright-Phillips got bangs against Newcastle and
we’re hopeful that they’ll come through training from Friday and if
they have they’ll be available for selection.”
Other possible
knocks from Wednesday’s game looked to be new signings Nigel de Jong
and Craig Bellamy, but Hughes stated: “They should be okay, Nigel just
got a bang on the outside of his calf and Craig’s fine, he’ll be okay.
The main doubts are Pablo and Shaun.”
Turning to today’s
opponents, the Blues’ boss said: “They’ve had a little bit of a stumble
of late in the league and they’re struggling for wins.
“That
doesn’t tell the whole story because they’ve gone up against a number
of the top four clubs and acquitted themselves quite well. Certainly
against Liverpool at the Britannia, which we know is a difficult place
to go, they played really well.
“It’s going to be a difficult
fixture for us. They’re a big, strong, imposing side and if we’re
honest with ourselves we haven’t got a big, physical presence, apart
from our back four.
“So it’s a big test for us, but we have
other strengths and it’s important that we are able to show them
against Stoke, who work exceptionally hard for each other.”
And
Hughes will find a team in Stoke very much built on grit and hard work,
but does he think teams are now raising their game against ‘the richest
Club in the world?’
“Yes, I think that will happen and we’ve seen
evidence of that,” Hughes declared. “It’s something that we have to
deal with and something we’re dealing with at the moment.
“The
situation we’ve found ourselves in now is that we are in better shape
to be able to deal with it because we have better players and more
quality in the squad.
“I’ve got more options and options on the
bench as well so as time goes by we’ll be able to deal with any
circumstance I’m sure.”
Despite the good run of recent form,
there is still one thing irking the Manager, and he hopes to put it
straight this lunchtime.
“We’ve got three wins out of four and
the moment and drawn the other game. Obviously, our away form still
needs to improve, that’s what we’re looking to add to our season.
“We’ve only won one game away from home and had a number of draws but we need to get back to winning ways on our travels.
“If we can do that against Stoke then we’ll be delighted because it’ll be a good end to a tough week.”
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