Walters may be ready for West Brom game

Stoke forward Jon Walters looks set to be available for Saturday's Barclays Premier League home clash with West Brom having returned to training this week.

Walters has been nursing a groin injury which saw him withdraw from the Republic of Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan.

If the 30-year-old is included in the Potters first XI for the Albion match, he will be just three short of 100 consecutive league starts, but he insists he is only really concerned about his fitness ahead of the game.

Regarding the potential landmark, Walters, said: “No, it doesn’t matter to me. Every game is a game and you just want to play.

“You can make a big thing of it, but to me it’s only a number and there’s people who’ve played a lot more. It doesn’t make an ounce of difference to me.

“The injury situation was far more important and I feel okay now after joining in training this week.”

He added: “I don’t usually get muscle injuries, so it was a bit of a strange one for me.

“It was a little tear in the groin which I picked up after half-an-hour of the Norwich game (a 1-0 home league defeat on September 29th.

“I jumped up for a corner and landed on my back, so I don’t know whether that’s when I did it.

“I didn’t train afterwards, not until the Friday before the game at Fulham (a 1-0 away league reverse on October 5th), but then I hurt it again during that game and thought it best to see the doctor.

“He said that after a couple of injuries it wouldn’t be wise to go and play for Ireland in Germany, especially as we would have a lot of chasing back to do out there.”