Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has lauded Jon Walters as an inspiration

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has lauded Jon Walters as an inspiration to aspiring footballers everywhere.

Walters will feature once again when 10th-placed Stoke take on ninth-placed Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday - weather permitting. Swansea's impressive progress - they were promoted from the third tier in 2008, from the Championship in 2011 and finished 11th in the top flight last season - has shown no sign of letting up this term following the appointment of manager Michael Laudrup as successor to Brendan Rodgers over the summer. Welshman Pulis is delighted to see the Swans continue to thrive under Laudrup, and feels it is important to acknowledge the work of those who held the Dane's post before him. "Swansea have been absolutely fabulous this year," Pulis said. "I think when Brendan left there was a lot of people thinking 'This is all going to fall in', but with consecutive managers - and we have to go back to Kenny Jackett because I think he sometimes gets forgotten - they have kept the thing going and actually improved on it. "You had Kenny, Roberto (Martinez, with Paulo Sousa then taking over for one season), Brendan and now Michael, who has been absolutely fantastic in what he has done." To find out more about football on Sky Sports click here