Jack Butland set for up to 10 weeks out after ankle surgery
Stoke boss Mark Hughes has confirmed Jack Butland is facing up to 10 weeks out following his ankle surgery.
That was the timeframe suggested by the club's chairman Peter Coates last week, ahead of Potters and England goalkeeper Butland having the operation on Monday.
And Hughes said on Friday: "I saw Jack yesterday, for the first time since the operation.
"All reports are it went really well. It was a little bit of scar tissue that was restricting the movement of the tendon in the ankle. That has all been cleared out.
"The likelihood is that it will be somewhere between six to 10 weeks when he comes back, and we are very hopeful the issue he has had is resolved now."
Butland is yet to play this season having sustained the injury in training with Stoke last month - the same ankle he broke while on international duty in March.
With the 23-year-old remaining sidelined, Shay Given, 40, is set to keep his place in goal for the Staffordshire outfit for an extended run.
And it is expected Saturday's Premier League home clash with Tottenham will see Lee Grant come into the matchday squad as back-up for Given, replacing Jakob Haugaard, who has been nursing an ankle problem of his own.
Grant, recruited from Derby, is one of three players Stoke signed on loan on transfer deadline day last week.
And there could be debuts for the other two, striker Wilfried Bony and defender Bruno Martins Indi, brought in from Manchester City and Porto respectively.
Goalscoring has been something of a problem for Stoke and Hughes is optimistic Bony can help improve things on that front.
"We hope so," Hughes said.
"We have been really impressed with Wilfried since he came to the club. He has only been here a short time but even in his training sessions you see the quality he has.
"He is scoring three, four, five goals in almost every training session.
"We're really excited by him being here. We feel he'll add a key element to how we want to play and give us that cutting edge that maybe we've lacked in the past."
Hughes added: "We feel Wilfried is maybe one of those players who needs to play week in, week out to get the best out of them.
"I think coming in and out of Man City's team, only coming on as substitute and not starting games, has maybe affected him detrimentally, because prior to that he was at Swansea and was outstanding in the Premier League."
Mauricio Pochettino takes his side to face Stoke less than five months after a convincing win in the Potteries left him thinking Tottenham were on the verge of Premier League title glory.
Two goals apiece from Harry Kane and Dele Alli saw Spurs win 4-0 on April 18 as they kept their championship ambitions alive in emphatic style.
They remained outsiders as eventual champions Leicester still held a five-point lead with four games left, but that did not stop Pochettino believing he was guiding the north London club to the top prize.
But it proved to be Tottenham's final win of the campaign as a damaging home draw with West Brom and a London derby stalemate against Chelsea, which saw the Blues fight back from 2-0 down to take a point, left them with too much work to do.
Their season reached a mediocre conclusion as back-to-back defeats to Southampton and Newcastle saw Spurs slip to third, 11 points behind Leicester and one behind fierce local rivals Arsenal.
Asked if he thought Spurs were going to win the league after the win at Stoke, Pochettino replied: "Yes.
"After our performance and our victory, it was a fantastic 4-0, we all believed it would be possible to win the league, yes.
"One thing is to believe and another is to deliver and win games, it was difficult and then it was the draw against West Brom at home.
"We played some of the best football in the first 45 minutes, because it was fantastic the way we played.
"Then in the second half, in our set-piece from a corner, they scored and it was a draw and we felt very disappointed, then it was Chelsea.
"It is true that after Stoke we felt it was possible, difficult but possible.
"The confidence and the belief is important for the team and the players but then you need to deliver.
"Always in our minds we are winners but then you have to deliver and I think maybe we didn't compete in the way we must compete to win the league.
"That is where we need to improve this season, to compete better."
Pochettino has revealed new signing Moussa Sissoko could feature at the bet365 Stadium this time around following his deadline-day arrival from Newcastle.
Source: PAR
