Stoke City Football Club News

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

• Ground:Britannia Stadium
• Capacity:28,218

Whelan calm over injury setback

03 Aug 2010 - 11:43:29

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Republic of Ireland midfielder Glenn Whelan is confident of being fit for the start of the new Premier League campaign, despite suffering a calf injury during a pre-season friendly.

The 26-year-old was injured during the recent game against Burnley, but initial fears of a lengthy lay-off have been allayed, although Whelan will miss his country's friendly against Argentina next week.

He told The Sentinel: "It felt really bad at the time, but over the last couple of days it's eased off. I'm hoping it's not as bad as first feared.

"It's obviously a bad time to get injured. You put in all that hard work over the last four or five weeks and then you get something like this so close to the season.

"But I feel pretty lucky to have got a couple of 90 minutes under my belt, so it's not a case of chasing fitness now, just maintaining it.

"Hopefully, everything will be okay for the first game."