As Alex Neil conceals injuries, the starting lineup for Stoke City’s match against Huddersfield is expected.

As Alex Neil conceals injuries, the starting lineup for Stoke City’s match against Huddersfield is expected.
Team information for Stoke City’s match against Huddersfield Town in the Championship

Alex Neil faces three challenges as Stoke City travels to Huddersfield.

Without at least three and possibly four likely starters, the manager must balance interesting selection decisions in defense, midfield, and attack. Should Mehdi Leris and Lynden Gooch continue to fill in for Ki-Jana Hoever and Enda Stevens if they are still injured and trying to maintain some stability in the back line, or would switching to wing-backs better play to their strengths? Is Junior Tchamadeu available to play right back?

Can a spot in midfield be found for Daniel Johnson, and if so, whose position is most in jeopardy? Josh Laurent, Stoke’s captain, may have come the closest to winning a point at Norwich on Saturday, but the boss has changed his role twice in the past two weeks as he looks for the ideal balance. Ben Pearson or Wouter Burger being left on the bench would be surprising, but given the flurry of games, perhaps it shouldn’t be.

And what frontal Stoke scoring combination has the highest chance of success? In the likely absence of Andre Vidigal and Ryan Mmaee, who can carry the load? Sead Haksabanovic wants to score a first-round

But without so many probable near-automatic picks, in some ways it feels a little bit like trying to do a jigsaw with pieces that don’t quite fit. It is hoped that it won’t be long until the treatment room clears but Neil was giving no clues when he was asked for updates at his pre-match press conference

We’ve got concerns that probably most of the teams in the league will have and we’ll have the same concerns going into this game,” he said, keeping his cards close to his chest. “I can give you updates if you like but they’re not going to help you because they’re going to be vague!”

Emre Tezgel is almost fit again after a pre-season quad injury but he will get game time with the under-21s to make sure he is trusted to stay fit when he steps up with the first team again.

Stoke predicted starting XI: Travers, Leris, Gooch, Rose, Wilmot, Pearson, Burger, Johnson, Haksabanovic, Campbell, Wesley.