Stoke City boss reveals major injury doubt ahead of Sunderland clash as Lynden Gooch’s status becomes clearer
Stoke City boss Narcís Pelach has provided a full injury update ahead of their trip to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland in the Championship this weekend.
Pelach has stated that Enda Stevens is being assessed again after a scan revealed his injury was likely worse than first feared.
Stevens came off early against Preston North End last Tuesday and had hoped that he had prevented what is believed to be a calf problem from developing. The player was confident he would be involved on Saturday against Sunderland.
Pelach said: “We’ll see. He’s a big doubt for Sunderland. We expected him to be available (against Burnley) but the scan we received meant we have had to wait and we’ll have to assess him again on Monday. Then we’ll know.”
Pelach said: “Sam and Bosun are close and they will be training with the team this week. It’s not full training, it will be modified a little bit, but they’ll be training with the team, which is very positive.
“In Bosun Lawal’s case, he has to make the step into the Championship and he missed a lot of pre-season so he can be training but we can’t force him to play games too early because then he’ll be vulnerable and we don’t want. We have to build him up and make sure that when we play him, he’s ready for this intensity, which is big and, for him, is new.
“Sam is different because he knows the league and he’s played games this season already. We just need to be careful when is the right moment to introduce him to make sure we don’t get another one.”
Former Sunderland man Lynden Gooch made the bench against Burnley for the first time since suffering a knee injury in September while Ben Pearson remains in recovery from a hamstring injury. The Black Cats will be without Chris Mepham who was shown a red card against Sheffiled United last time out
Leave a Reply