Xherdan Shaqiri 'touch and go' for Stoke's trip to West Ham, says Mark Hughes
Friday 4 November 2016 10:23, UK
Mark Hughes says it is "touch and go" whether Xherdan Shaqiri will feature for Stoke at West Ham on Saturday.
The winger was substituted after just 26 minutes of Stoke's 3-1 victory over Swansea on Monday Night Football, after complaining about a tightness in his hamstring.
He has been unable to return to training ahead of the trip to London Stadium and Hughes admits the 25-year-old is facing a race against time to prove his fitness.
"He hasn't trained all week. He's got a little bit of damage to the hamstring and at this moment in time he's struggling to be available," the Stoke manager said.
"We'll see how he is today and there may be a slight opportunity. He has to train today (Friday). If he does that then he might have a chance.
"He's played with a slight strain before but that was between games from Saturday to Saturday. There's a couple less days this time so it's touch and go."
However, Hughes did confirm Stoke would be without defender Geoff Cameron, who remains on the sidelines with a knee injury.
"Geoff's knee has improved but when you open up the knee joint they seem to improve rapidly - but the last five or 10 per cent is much slower," he added.
"It's unlikely he'll be involved tomorrow - or in international level next week."
Stoke have recovered from a poor start to the new season and will be aiming to stretch their winning in the Premier League to four matches when they face the Hammers.
Hughes believes the continued support from chairman Peter Coates and his family has been vital in helping him to engineer the turnaround.
"I don't think there was any great pressure internally," Hughes added. "The Coates family are very supportive financially and they also support their managers. That's been the case before my time.
"The advantage I have being a manager of a club that's owned by a family who's been around football for a long time, they understand there are peaks and troughs because it's sport.
"If you have confidence in someone to give them the job, they let them get on with it. I hope I've repaid that confidence so far."
