Stoke City team news vs Cardiff as Mark Robins hints at changes

Stoke City are assessing injuries to Bosun Lawal and Sam Gallagher as they go in hunt of a third win on the spin – and their first away win since January.

Lawal limped out in the second-half of Stoke’s 4-0 win over Charlton while Gallagher was taken straight down the tunnel for treatment after pulling up in the first half.

Regardless, Mark Robins has hinted that he will rotate the squad to deal with the avalanche of fixtures thrown up in the Championship. A Tuesday night trip to Cardiff will be Stoke’s sixth game in 18 days, with a seventh to come away at Watford on Saturday.

Robins has sounded pleased with squad depth coming out of the transfer window and it was a bench full of senior players at the weekend. Maksym Talovierov, Robert Bozenik, Lamine Cisse, Jack McGlynn and Ben Pearson were sent on while Tomas Rigo, Bae Junho and Luca Bombino remained unused.

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Million Manhoef will hope to shrug off an injury he picked up in training while Junior Tchamadeu is close to a return. Ben Gibson has been serving concussion protocol, Svante Ingelsson is probably going to be sidelined until the international break and Aaron Cresswell is out longer term.

Ato Ampah came through a 45-minute run-out for the under-21s on Friday night at Stockport as he returns to action for the first time since joining Stoke from Chelsea in January.

Robins said: “(The players not in the starting XI have) got to stay focused, they’ve got to stay joined up. They’re not always going to start but it’s going to be a case that you can have squad rotation, you can maybe keep people fresh and try to avoid the injuries.”

This is expected to be the last game until mid-October for Bae Junho, who has been named in South Korea’s squad for the Asian Games. The Seoul press reports that he will travel east on Thursday.

Cardiff are expected to miss Wales forward Isaak Davies, who was left out of a game at Portsmouth on Saturday due to a hamstring injury.

Brian Barry-Murphy’s squad has been stretched in the first few weeks of the season and he named two goalkeepers on the bench at Fratton Park. Callum Chambers, Dylan Lawlor and Will Fish are also unavailable.

“(Davies) felt his hamstring in training so I imagine he won’t be available for Tuesday,” Barry-Murphy told WalesOnline. “The rest of the guys are back around the international break so I don’t imagine anything will change between now and Tuesday.

“(Chambers) is in the same bracket as Dylan and Will Fish. He won’t be available for Tuesday and it’s a bit more complicated because of his injury.”

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