Stoke City set to be without five players vs Middlesbrough as Mark Robins waits on key man
Sam Gallagher made his first appearance since January 4 when he came off the bench at Carrow Road while Ben Wilmot was back in the squad for the first time since January 22.
Million Manhoef, who had missed two months with a knee injury, continued his return with his second cameo; Ben Pearson, who had missed 11 months with a hamstring injury, made his second start; and Jordan Thompson (hernia) came on.
The returning players have meant that Bosun Lawal could afford to get valuable game time with the under-21s rather than sit on the first team bench. He played 90 minutes against Nottingham Forest last Monday and 70 on Friday against Liverpool.
But Robins has had to manage all the returns and how much he can push players who have spent so long out, as well as playing by the EFL substitutes rule. Nine subs can be named and five can be used during a game but only across three ‘opportunities’.
The manager said on Saturday: “They have to play their way in. I’ve got timings and when we made the change for Gally to come on I couldn’t do it when Ali (Al-Hamadi) came off because I had to make a two-step change, which is… interesting. That’s just where we’re at.”
There are still five other players on the injury list. Left-backs Josh Wilson-Esbrand and Eric Bocat are both out with calf injuries. Bocat has been targeting a return at the end of this month.
Ben Gibson has been plagued by injury and illness issues since Christmas, Ryan Mmaee – who hasn’t played since August – is on his way back from a hamstring injury that cut short a loan at Rapid Vienna, which had already been derailed by quad problems. Sol Sidibe is nursing a back injury.
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