Stoke City suffer ‘unbelievable’ player blow days before Birmingham City clash | OneFootball

Mark Robins has confirmed that goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu is to spend six weeks out after sustaining a thigh injury in training

Stoke City’s luck with injuries goes from bad to worse, with Southampton loanee Gavin Bazunu, who joined less than a week ago to replace the injured Viktor Johansson, set to face up to six weeks in the treatment room with a fresh thigh injury.

Indeed, in the wake of Wednesday evening's 2-1 home defeat to Middlesbrough, eyebrows were raised at Bazunu’s omission from the squad altogether, with Potters boss later confirming that the Irishman had sustained a thigh injury in training.

Stoke’s injury list is well into double digits at this stage, with Bazunu just the latest blow to a long line of injuries hindering the club’s campaign.

Johansson, who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, keepers in the division, is due to spend much of the rest of the season out after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Tommy Simkin was recalled from his loan spell with Leyton Orient and thrust immediately into the side for Stoke’s 1-0 win away at Hull City on New Year's Day, in what was just his second league appearance for the club.

Now, with Bazunu’s fresh injury, Robins will be wrapping Simkin in wool and praying he can avoid injury, otherwise their options will be limited to just 37-year-old Frank Fielding or the son of Lee Grant, True, who has yet to play above the sixth tier.

Following Wednesday evening’s defeat to Middlesbrough, Robins revealed that Bazunu had injured his thigh during training, branding the incident as ‘unbelievable’.

Following the Middlesbrough game, Robins said: “Gavin’s going to be out for six weeks. It’s just unbelievable.

“He’s done his thigh. We hardly trained them. We didn’t but he’s done something that’s given him an injury. Unless you don’t do anything - and then you’re undercooked and go into a game and you’re not quite ready, you need to do something. We did something and it’s ended up with an injury.”

Bazunu joins the likes of Johansson, Ben Gibson, Junior Tchamadeu, Lewis Baker, Robert Bozenik, Divin Mubama, Sam Gallagher, Nathan Lowe, and Emre Tezgel in the treatment room, with the Potters down to the bare bones.

Both Eric Bocat and Aaron Cresswell had also previously missed nearly the last month with injury, meaning Maksym Talovierov and Bosun Lawal had to fill in at full-back, though both featured on the bench against Middlesbrough.

Meanwhile, Lamine Cisse has had to deputise up front with each of the five strikers contracted to the club out with long-term injuries, leaving Robins short of options in forward areas.

Go Ahead Eagles striker Milan Smit looks set to join Stoke this winter in a €5.5 million (£4.8 million) deal to remedy some of those woes in attacking areas, though Robins will be keen to see some more bodies return to fitness sooner rather than later.

After Wednesday’s result, Stoke remain just two points out of the play-off places, though their aspirations of a top-six finish will have taken a huge dent in light of all the injuries.

Stoke have failed to record a top-half finish since relegation to the Championship in 2018, with this season presenting their best chance since then.

However, it appears fate has a different idea and is doing everything it can to hinder those prospects.

Robins will remain as hopeful as anyone that he can guide his side into the top six, though his job has become increasingly more difficult due to the circumstances.

With Smit’s arrival looking imminent and Crystal Palace winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi also linked with a move to the Potteries, it looks set to be a busy final week or so for Stoke, who will likely be forced to make some moves this month to ease the burden on their current crop of players.

As the Potters head to St Andrews to take on Birmingham City this weekend, Bazunu's injury will put even more pressure on an already thin squad, though, regardless, Robins must ensure he does everything in his power to give his side the best possible platform to recover before heading to another tough fixture.