Sourced from Daily Star article
Stoke 2 Southampton 1 LIVE: Updates from Premier League clash

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Stoke City manager Mark Hughes is facing a defensive crisis ahead of Saturday’s Premier League game against Southampton as a dearth of fit central defenders leaves him sweating on the fitness of several key players.
Already without Kevin Wimmer (hamstring), Geoff Cameron (hamstring) and Ryan Shawcross (back) against Chelsea last week, Stoke also lost Bruno Martins Indi when he suffered a groin injury in the 4-0 defeat.
While there is no clear picture on the fitness of his back line ahead of Southampton’s visit, Hughes will at least be able to call on French defender Kurt Zouma, who was unavailable to play against parent club Chelsea last Saturday.
“We have Kurt back, which is a big bonus for us, and it was unfortunate that the injury situation we found ourselves in coincided with the Chelsea game when he was unavailable,” Hughes said.
“He’s a definite for Saturday and clearly we’re hoping we don’t get any further injuries from now to the weekend.”
Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino said playing three centre-backs may not necessarily improve his team or address their struggles in front of goal.
Ahead of Southampton’s trip to Stoke, Pellegrino said he is open to shuffling his back line to accommodate more strikers or wingers up the pitch.
However, his three-man defence failed to prevent a 2-0 League Cup loss to second tier Wolverhampton Wanderers and Pellegrino felt the success of the system depended on the players.
“I’m not sure that would improve us or that we’d score more goals with three centre-backs,” Pellegrino told British media.
“That formation is something I have liked to do with past teams. But it’s not just dependent on the feeling of the manager, it depends how the players are. In some games I will try this formation,” he added.
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