Early Stoke City team news v West Brom as Dwight Gayle and Sam Clucas updates shared
Stoke City will be without midfielder Sam Clucas for their Championship clash with West Brom on Saturday at the Bet365 Stadium.
Clucas, 32, has been out since 18 October with a back injury and City boss Alex Neil has confirmed they won’t be seeing the midfielder “anytime soon”.
However, Stoke are set to welcome back Jordan Thompson after the midfielder missed the win over Luton Town on Tuesday evening (8 November). The club are also set to make a decision over defender Harry Souttar.
Former Albion striker Dwight Gayle is set to continue up front for Neil’s side, with the 33-year-old yet to hit the back of the net this season.
“He’s [Sam Clucas] had an issue with his back. We’ve taken a few opinions on it and I don’t think we’ll see Sam any time soon. Jordan Thompson is available. He’s had a baby, which is great, and they’re doing well,” said the Stoke boss (quoted by Stoke Sentinel, 11 November).
“[On Harry Souttar] Yesterday was the second day of recovery and that’s normally the worst he’ll feel. It’s not generally 24 hours after the game, it’s normally the second day when it kicks in. We’ll take a view of him this morning and see how we go from there.”
Big chance
It feels weird but Albion are heading into this fixture probably fancying their chances against Neil’s side. Stoke haven’t been in brilliant form in the 2022/23 campaign and there’s no reason why Carlos Corberan’s men cannot continue their good recent form. A win would take the Baggies to within two points of their hosts, who currently sit in 15th place.
A victory would be the perfect way for West Brom to head into the international break. Corberan has clearly got something out of these players in recent weeks, and a further three weeks on the training ground to further implement his methods will only improve things further.
After a long, long time there is finally a little bit of positivity creeping back into The Hawthorns after a dark period for the club under Steve Bruce. If West Brom can keep it solid at the back again, then they have more than enough to cause Neil’s side plenty of problems going forward.
In other West Brom news, Chris Lepkowski has addressed rumours of the Baggies going into administration after what happened recently.