Thursday 11 December 2014 15:47, UK
Mark Hughes hopes Roy Hodgson's recent trip to the Britannia will result in an England call-up for Ryan Shawcross.
Stoke's manager has repeatedly questioned Hodgson's decision to overlook Shawcross, whose only cap to date came in a friendly defeat to Sweden more than two years ago.
And Hughes was heartened to see the England boss at the Britannia for his side's 3-2 win over Arsenal earlier this month.
He said: "Roy Hodgson came to the Arsenal game and would have seen a good performance from Ryan Shawcross. Seeing him in real time will help his case.
"Ryan acquitted himself really well. He's an accomplished Premier League player and if he got the call he wouldn't let anyone down."
Ryan acquitted himself really well. He's an accomplished Premier League player and if he got the call he wouldn't let anyone down.
Shawcross' next assignment is Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace, where fellow defender Marc Muniesa is likely to be missing.
Hughes said: "We have a major doubt over Marc Muniesa. He had to come off last weekend with a problem and he hasn't managed to overcome that yet.
"Jonathan Walters has a problem with his knee, too, but we are managing that at the moment and we hope he will be okay to feature."
The Arsenal result was inspired in part by the performance of Bojan Krkic, whose goal helped end a run of four straight defeats.
Krkic has started the past six Premier League games after losing his palce early in the season, and Hughes said: "Arguably he's been our best performer since he's come back in. He's worked hard, listened and understood what's required.
"There's now an opportunity to follow up a good result against Arsenal with another good performance and result at Palace. It won't be easy - Palace are decent at home and if we are going to get back-to-back wins we'll have to be strong."
