Stoke City have been considering a lot of goals in recent matches and this has been attributed to the lack of defender Robert Huth in the defence. The former Chelsea defender has formed a great partnership with Ryan Shawcross, but he has been out for the last few matches with a knee injury. Manager Mark Hughes has revealed that the player has finally returned to training and will be available for selection in the next couple of matches. The club take on Liverpool at the Britannia stadium during the weekend, but this game may come a little too soon for the German international.

Stoke will be looking to get another high-profile scalp just a few weeks after they defeated Chelsea 3-2 at this stadium. Even though they have struggled to keep tight defences against the bottom teams, Stoke have been doing well against the top teams since the arrival of Hughes. The former Manchester City and Fulham manager has also confirmed that the club are close to coming to terms with Aston Villa for the transfer of Ireland on a permanent basis. The Aston Villa midfielder is on loan deal till the end of the season, but he is also out of contract in the summer.

Hughes is also targeting a couple of signings upfront in order to strength the team. “We have got Kenwyne Jones and Peter Crouch and we think we need more options up front to make sure we are covered until the end of the season. We’ve had converstations with Aston Villa and we would like to think that would be concluded. We are pleased if it does come off and we have no reason to think it won’t,” said Hughes.

The club are 13th in the table, but they are not far off from getting into the top half.