Stoke City team news vs Luton Town as duo return and senior pair on bench
Wouter Burger and Ben Wilmot are back in the Stoke City starting XI - and Enda Stevens and Ben Gibson are back fit to be named on the bench - for a Tuesday night clash at Luton Town.
Burger dropped out of the team to take on Sunderland on Saturday but comes straight back into central midfield next to Tatsuki Seko, taking the place of Andrew Moran, who is named among the subs. Wilmot is back at right-back, with Junior Tchamadeu dropping to the bench as Narcis Pelach manages his squad through a busy period of fixtures.
Stevens has recovered from a calf problem after missing two games while captain Gibson is well again after illness, having rested at the weekend. There is no place yet for Sam Gallagher and Bosun Lawal, who are both hoping to be involved for a home match against Cardiff on Saturday. Jordan Thompson and Niall Ennis drop out of the squad this time.
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Pelach said in his pre-match press conference: "It’s a tough place to go, Luton, but I really feel that in the league every game is difficult. We know the conditions of the stadium, the conditions of the team, a lot of direct play, second balls and set plays. It’s a proper fight in terms of a second-ball game. The ball is divided a lot of times and you need to have maturity and experience to know how to deal with it sometimes. It’s not an organised game as other games can be. There are more situations that are uncontrollable and we have to understand what we have to do in every situation and make sure we compete at our best level."
Stoke: Johansson, Wilmot, Bocat, Rose, Phillips, Seko, Burger, Manhoef, Koumas, Junho, Cannon. Subs: Bonham, Moran, Tchamadeu, Gibson, Stevens, Vidigal, Gooch, Sidibe, Tezgel.