O’NEILL READY TO SHUFFLE HIS PACK AS POTTERS HEAD TO CITY GROUND
MICHAEL O’neill says he will use Stoke City’s final three matches of the season to assess his options.
The Potters head to Nottingham Forest tomorrow with no promotion or relegation issues to concern themselves with.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a case of Stoke ticking off the days until the campaign draws to a close.
Stoke boss O’neill is intent on using the Championship encounters to look at all aspects of his squad.
O’neill drafted goalkeeper Angus Gunn back into the starting line-up for Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat at home by Coventry, replacing Adam Davies who had impressed in last weekend’s draw with Preston.
And the roles could be reversed once more when the Potters head to the City Ground.
“The two goalkeepers have both had bad injuries this season which kept them out for months,” said the Potters boss.
“We want to give them both game time as much as possible between now and the end of the season.
“Adam was excellent in the game on Saturday. I don’t think Angus was at his best (against Coventry).
“Between now and the end of the season, we’ve got to look at the goalkeeping situation, as we do at all areas of the pitch.”
Stoke are likely to recall Harry Souttar, who served a one-match suspension against Coventry.
However, James Chester is out - and is set to be for the rest of the season - after his early withdrawal with a calf injury in the bet365 Stadium defeat.
The Potters have lost three of their last four outings and face a Forest side who are winless in three.
But Chris Hughton’s men earned a point from a 1-1 draw at Birmingham in midweek after Lewis Grabban netted a 98thminute penalty.
That pushed them to the 50-point mark, but the Reds boss won’t allow his players to cruise to the end of the season.
“At this moment, it’s probably a better result for us; we’re away from home and when you score that late, it’s a plus for us and generally a big blow for the opposition,” Hughton told the Nottingham Post.
“For us, it’s a good point. It makes that gap just a little bit bigger, but we want to keep fighting through to the end.
“One thing I won’t accept is the season petering out. We’ve still got things to play for and want to finish as high as possible.”
However, Hughton was less than impressed by his side’s performance as they looked to recover from Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by Huddersfield.
When asked whether the display had been what he wanted, he added: “No, certainly not. For 20 minutes,
I thought we were good and I enjoyed that period. But for 70 minutes, I didn’t think we were (good). We were up against a better team than us in that period.
“I was delighted with the start, but disappointed with the last 70 minutes of the game, when we were second best.
“But I’m delighted we could show that bit of character. However we get it, it gets us back in the game.
“We are coming towards the end of the season. One thing I’ve been continually drumming into the team is, irrespective of the points we’re on and position we’re in, we want to finish as strongly as possible - for lots of reasons.
“We’d had a real good spell (of results). For where we are as a team, it’s difficult to keep that momentum all the time.
“The teams that do it more regularly, or more consistently, are the teams that are in the top six at the minute.”