Mark Hughes says that midfielder Stephen Ireland is in contention

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes says that midfielder Stephen Ireland is in contention for a starting spot at the club.

Stoke take on Norwich City in the next Premier League outing. The match comes just weeks after they performed extremely well in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Even though it was only a draw, Hughes will be extremely delighted with the way his team managed to come back from two goals down to get a point away from home. However, one of the sore points from the game was the injury to Ireland, who is seen as one of the important players in any team managed by Hughes.

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes says that midfielder Stephen Ireland is in contention for a starting spot at the club.

Stoke take on Norwich City in the next Premier League outing. The match comes just weeks after they performed extremely well in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Even though it was only a draw, Hughes will be extremely delighted with the way his team managed to come back from two goals down to get a point away from home. However, one of the sore points from the game was the injury to Ireland, who is seen as one of the important players in any team managed by Hughes.

The 28-year-old had to be taken off with only 30 minutes remaining in the game. It was expected that this injury would be very serious for Ireland. This would be a major blow to Stoke, who already have a couple of important players on the sidelines. However, Hughes has given a major sigh of relief to the club supporters by confirming that Ireland did not suffer a major problem and that he should be back in contention for the game against Norwich. However, there was less than positive news with the likes of Jonathan Walters, who continues to remain doubtful.

“Both Stephen and Joselu made major contributions last weekend, and of course, as always, they will come into consideration for this game. I have just been speaking to the guys and I have told them that when we have a relatively fully fit squad of players, like we do now, then it is always going to be difficult to keep everybody happy.There will be a couple of guys who miss out, and they will be disappointed and rightly so, because they are all putting the work in and impressing in training,” said Hughes.