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Stoke City defender Marc Muniesa facing six weeks out through injury

Ryan Shawcross
Image: Ryan Shawcross: Ruled out of Stoke's trip to Aston Villa

Stoke have suffered a double injury blow with Ryan Shawcross ruled out of Saturday's trip to Aston Villa and Marc Muniesa set to miss up to six weeks.

Stoke have been beset by injury problems this season, with Muniesa joining the list of casualties during the 4-1 FA Cup humbling at the hands of Blackburn last weekend when he limped off with a hamstring injury.

Potters assistant boss Mark Bowen says the Spaniard is facing a minimum of four weeks on the sidelines.

We feared Marc’s injury was a really bad one, about eight weeks but he had a scan on Monday and they say it may be between four and six.
Mark Bowen

He told BBC Radio Stoke: "We initially feared Marc’s injury was a really bad one, about eight weeks. He had a scan on Monday and they’ve come back and said it’ll be between four to six weeks so maybe we're thankful for small mercies.

"We feel for the lad. He will be the first to say – like a few of the lads – that he struggled on Saturday but over the past two months you could argue he’s been our best defender, showing a lot of maturity to nail that left-sided centre-half spot as his own.

"He’s a genuinely nice kid who’s a fantastic professional and his career up to this date has been blighted by serious injury. We do know that having gone through what he has he’s got a fantastic work ethic and strong mind. Hopefully he will be back in four weeks rather than six."

'Injection'

Shawcross, meanwhile, has missed Stoke's last three games with a back problem which flared up in the 3-1 win over QPR at the end of last month.

Bowen said: "It’s quite complicated. He’s had another injection and they have to hit the right spot going into the disc. We’re hopeful he will progress over the next 48 hours and it will settle down significantly.

"It won’t be enough to put him in the frame to take on Aston Villa but maybe it will be ok for the following week against Hull."

There is better news on Erik Pieters (hernia), Marc Wilson (groin) and Stephen Ireland (hamstring), who are all expected to be in contention against Villa, while Jon Walters (knee) and Peter Crouch (groin and hip) have received injections in the hope that they too will be fit to feature.

Stoke have also had to make do without long-term injury victims Peter Odemwingie and Bojan, but Bowen insists the raft of injuries are down to nothing other than bad luck.

He added: "You hear fans being a little bit concerned with one or two questions asked about how we’re training. But I’ve been coaching in the Premier League for 14 years and we’re doing nothing different.

"Last year we were top of the league in terms of training days missed, never mind games, because we were so good at keeping players fit. Sorry to dumb it down but it just seems like a matter of luck. If something can go wrong, it will.

"Mark Hughes is the first to say we have to be careful that staff and players don’t use it is an excuse. It is something we have to go through. We are a strong club with a strong squad. We know we had a bad day on Saturday. We let a lot of people down, especially our travelling fans.

"We have to try to put that behind us and keep the spirits high. We will go to Aston Villa with all guns blazing."

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