Stoke's injury problems worsen as Muniesa joins list

Stoke City's injury nightmare has taken another twist with Marc Muniesa joining their growing list of casualties.

Manager Mark Hughes already has Bojan Krkic out for the season and Ryan Shawcross out for the short-term future.

Erik Pieters, Marc Wilson, Stephen Ireland, Peter Crouch and Jon Walters have also all been struggling to train ahead of Saturday's match with Aston Villa.

And now Muniesa, who pulled up as Blackburn Rovers broke to score the third goal in their 4-1 FA Cup win last Saturday, has been forced into the busy physio room at the Britannia.

Assistant manager Mark Bowen said: "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."