Fitness news from Clayton Wood as Stoke City prepare for Championship clash with fellow high fliers Bristol City
Bosun Lawal joined Stoke City from Celtic in the summer of 2024.(Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Mark Robins should have a near-full squad to work with as Stoke City prepare to host Bristol City next weekend.
Stoke welcomed back Ben Gibson and Bae Junho to the match day squad when they won 1-0 at Portsmouth on Saturday and Junior Tchamadeu will return from suspension too.
Eric Bocat is expected to train this week after missing out at Fratton Park. The left-back had said he couldn’t continue at half-time of a mid-week defeat at Millwall but should now come back into the mix.
Junho played with strapping on a shoulder that he had dislocated while on international duty with South Korea under-23s. The playmaker had missed a few weeks in pre-season after dislocating the other shoulder, also while with South Korea, and although Robins had said this one wasn’t as bad, it was a surprise to see him in the starting XI at Fratton Park. That was the 22-year-old’s 100th Stoke appearance since joining in 2023.
Club captain Gibson, aged 32, has been nursing a niggling injury since the summer and has only played in a couple of Carabao Cup ties. He was an unused sub at Portsmouth as he gets back towards full fitness.
Bosun Lawal is believed to still be a week or two away after sustaining a hamstring injury at Middlesbrough in late September.
Sam Gallagher is seeing a specialist to try to get to the bottom of his recurring injuries since he joined Stoke from Blackburn in the summer of 2024. Robins explained the process in full last week as he tries to get the striker back up and running – and able to stay fit – as quickly as possible.
Bristol City are fourth in the Championship after a 1-0 win over Birmingham on Saturday. That was their third win in a row under new boss Gerhard Struber and they are yet to lose an away game in the league this season.
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