Stoke suffer double injury blow

Higginbotham played for 75 minutes against Blackburn with a slipped disc

Stoke City have been handed a double injury blow with the news Danny Higginbotham and James Beattie will miss their trip to Fulham on Saturday.

Higginbotham will definitely miss the rest of the season with a slipped disc, while Beattie has a thigh strain.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis told BBC Radio Stoke: "Danny will have an operation on his back either this week or next week.

"We've shut Beattie down for this week, but we'll have another a look at him before the West Ham game (on 2 May)."

Higginbotham, a £2.5m signing from Sunderland in August, aggravated a back injury in the 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion on 4 April.

He played with a pain-killing injection for the next two matches, and actually slipped the disc just 15 minutes into the 1-0 win against Blackburn on Saturday.

Amazingly, he went on to play the full 90 minutes and did not realise the extent of the problem until he left the field.

Meanwhile Pulis hopes that Beattie, who has scored six goals in 12 matches since signing from Sheffield United in January, will be fit enough to return to training after the trip to Craven Cottage.

The Potters are also sweating over the fitness of defender Andy Wilkinson, who also suffered a back injury in the victory over Blackburn.

"When we played Middlesbrough (on 21 March) we had a fully-fit squad. But since then, we've lost six players to injury," Pulis added.

"Now it's a chance for those who have been on the fringes to come in and do the best they possibly can."