What Alex Neil is hoping for ahead of Sunderland fixture as Stoke boss questions ‘ridiculous’ schedule

Stoke boss Alex Neil hopes to have some of his senior players back from injury when his side face Sunderland after the international break.

The Potters were missing a number of first-team players during their 2-0 defeat at Leicester, a result which leaves them 21st in the Championship table after just one win from their last eight league games.

Former Sunderland full-back Lynden Gooch has missed Stoke’s last two games with a hamstring injury, while Ryan Mmaee, Michael Rose, Enda Stevens, Tyrese Campbell, Ben Wilmot and Ki-Jana Hoever have also been sidelined. Andre Vidigal did return to the squad as a substitute against Leicester but didn’t feature.

“I hope so,” said Neil when asked if some players could return after the international break. “I think we might get two or three back. Andre was in my mind for this game but I think the longer the game went on, there’s no point in risking him at that point because it was going to be really difficult for us to get anything out of the match. There’s absolutely no point in me risking them at that stage so that’s why that’s why I left him on the bench.”

Stoke’s squad has been particularly stretched at the back, with only two defenders available for the Leicester game. “We’ve played so many games: seven games in 21 days, which is ridiculous,” Neil added.

“We’ve lost eight members of our first-team squad that are senior players, we’ve got a back line with a young kid playing only his second game having come from League Two a couple of weeks ago and we’ve got Luke McNally, who’s played 25 games in the Championship at centre-back, and after that we’ve got midfielders dotted in the back line.

“So it’s been really testing for us. We knew it was going to be a difficult task but in terms of the players’ efforts, their application and how they went about it, I thought they gave us everything they could.”

Sunderland will travel to the bet365 Stadium to face Stoke on Saturday, October 21, before a trip to Leicester three days later.