Mark Hughes confident ahead of Chelsea game after international break helps Stoke City injuries

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has claimed a number of players including Philipp Wollscheid, Erik Pieters and Marc Muniesa have taken advantage of the international break to address their injury concerns in order to be ready for the trip to Chelsea on Saturday 4 April.

However, Chelsea loanee Victor Moses will miss the games as he is ineligible to play against his parent side.

The Potters visit the Premier League leaders in the 10<sup>th position on the table but following a disappointed 2-1 home defeat against Crystal Palace just before the international break.

And even though they have lost in each of the previous five visits to Stamford Bridge, Hughes is confident that the international break will help his side to secure a positive result at West London.

"In terms of getting one or two of the guys back up to speed again I think it is fair to suggest that the break came at a good time for us. There were quite a few of them who had been nursing injuries prior to the break but thankfully they all appear to be fit and raring to go again," the boss said.

"The likes of Philipp Wollscheid, Erik Pieters and Marc Muniesa have benefited from the past 10 days or so and they have been training for the majority of the week which is good news.

"We will check the ones who have been away on international duty again today, but the signs are positive and they all appear to be fine, which is encouraging."

Meanwhile, the manager has claimed that the squad will also manage to cope with the absence of Moses, who has scored three goals and provided five assists for his side since his loan arrival from Chelsea.

"We are obviously missing Victor because he isn't allowed to play against the side he is on-loan from, so we have lost a little bit of our attacking flair," he added.

"We still have other players available though – ones who are capable of coming into the team and making an impact."

Meanwhile, long-term injured Bojan Krkic and Peter Odemwingie remains on the sidelines although the Nigerian may return to action before the end of the campaign, after sustaining a cruciate knee ligament injury in August.

"Peter is doing ok and we are really encouraged by how he is doing, and we don't want to put too much pressure on him but we are hopeful of getting him back before the end of the season.

"It would be a help to him and to ourselves to see him back on the field over the next couple of months."