Stoke City vs Southampton - Shawcross poised to return for Potters against Southampton

Posted Saturday, March 12, 2016 by PA

Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross could be set to return from a back problem to face Southampton.

The central defender has missed the last eight matches but is close to full fitness and could be drafted in should a reshuffle be needed if left-back Erik Pieters does not recover from a calf problem.

Phil Bardsley and Charlie Adam (both calf), Shay Given, Glen Johnson and Marc Wilson (all knee) all remain sidelined.

Southampton are currently ninth and travel on Saturday looking to climb back above the Potters.

If they are to match last season's feat of qualifying for the Europa League, Koeman needs his strikers to start firing.

With Charlie Austin out injured, Shane Long is the only one of Southampton's fit frontmen to have hit the net this year, with Graziano Pelle having failed to score since November.

"We know we can keep clean sheets," added Koeman. "We need to keep that and improve in our attacking, to create more. What the strikers can bring makes the difference in our ambition until the end of the season.

"We need the goals from Pelle, we need the goals from Shane Long, we need the creativity of Dusan Tadic, the quality of Sadio Mane. We need that because it really makes the difference.

"It's always difficult for strikers if they don't score for a long time, maybe they are under a little bit more pressure. But Pelle is experienced enough. He had a similar period last season and after that he showed how to score goals.

"That's football. You have good periods, you have bad periods. You have chances, you miss chances. It's up to the whole team to create and when you get a chance you have to be clinical. We have to improve, we know that.

"We need another good result this weekend because it's a big game. Stoke are two points above us in the table and both teams have a lot of ambition to grow, and it's always very close between us."