Stoke City Football Club News

• Nickname:Potters
• Founded:1863
• Manager:Tony Pulis

• Ground:Britannia Stadium
• Capacity:28,218

Etherington allays injury fears

16 Jul 2010 - 10:17:14

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Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington has played down fears he will miss the start of the season with a knee injury.

The former West Ham United star missed the pre-season defeat to Bursapor with the problem but hopes to return to training this weekend.

The 28-year-old was spotted with an ice pack on his swollen knee, but said: "We're hoping the knee will settle down and I'll be back in training at the weekend. It's been a case of keeping pressure off the knee and letting it settle.

"I've been told it's to do with something called the fat pad near the tendon on the left knee. I basically tweaked it a little bit on the hill run on Monday.

"I tried running again on the Wednesday, but felt it again halfway through and that's when we decided to keep off it for a few days.

"I've been doing a lot of bike and gym work and I've still done most of the hard stuff because of the work before the knee injury. Now I just want to get a ball at my feet. I haven't touched a ball yet, which is frustrating.

"But for the sake of a couple of days, it's worth missing out for the moment. We've still got four weeks until the start of the season and plenty of friendlies still to come before then."

Meanwhile, Etherington has still to sign a new four-year contract that was agreed last week although he hopes to put pen to paper next Tuesday.