Republic of Ireland and Stoke midfielder Liam Lawrence has revealed his ankle injury is taking longer to recover from than expected.

The Potters ace suffered the injury when he tripped over his pet dog two weeks ago and missed the game at Portsmouth as a result — and could now miss next weekend's game with Spurs as well.

He told the club's official website, www.stokecityfc.co.uk: "I've turned an ankle before and been out for just a couple of weeks, but this one feels different to anything I've had before.

"We'll probably give it a few more days' treatment to see if it improves, but if not then I'll go for another scan to see if there's something else in there. It seems to be taking longer to get right than these things should. I'm usually a decent healer but this is slow and it's killing me.

"I'm sick of going to the gym every day, not being able to train properly and missing the other lads with all their banter."