Jon Walters returns for Stoke for FA Cup trip to Blackburn

Jon Walters is set to return for Stoke City's FA Cup fifth round tie away to Blackburn Rovers but the striker is nursing a knee injury which manager Mark Hughes says requires ongoing attention.

That’s something that could prove a problem for Martin O’Neill ahead of Poland’s visit to Dublin at the end of March.

“We are managing Jon because he has got a bit of an issue with his knee,” said Hughes who left the striker out of his team to face Manchester City earlier this week despite a strong run of recent form which yielded four goals in his last three appearances.

“We left him out on Wednesday with the sole purpose of hopefully having him available to us on Saturday,” said Hughes.

“He has a little problem which we have got to manage correctly.”

There had been a suggestion earlier in the week that Walters might require surgery but Hughes appears to believe that the 31-year-old can get safely through to the end of the season as long as he gets adequate breaks between games. Whether that will affect the club’s attitude towards his involvement with Ireland at the end of the next month remains to be seen.

But O’Neill would presumably press for his release if it becomes an issue given the importance of the game.

Neither Stephen Ireland nor Marc Wilson are expected to feature for Stoke this weekend but both are in with a strong shout of being involved in next week's league game against Aston Villa.

Derby skipper Richard Keogh, meanwhile, believes that the Championship side have a real chance of extending their run in the cup given the number of big teams that have already gone out.

“The way the games have gone,” he says, “and with the teams that are left in, there is a real opportunity for somebody outside of the top flight to get to the quarter-finals, even the semi-finals and final.”

County face Reading for a place in the last eight and having beaten their opponents twice already this season, once in the league and one in the League Cup, there seems to be some cause for confidence.

“We played well against them earlier in the season,” he says, “both away and in the Capital One Cup before that. They are a different team now and they have a different way of playing but we are at home again in front of our own fans and we have to make that count,” added the Republic of Ireland defender.

Having been responsible for removing favourites Chelsea away last time out, Bradford City have home advantage this time too and Cork's Billy Clarke is hoping his side can topple another Premier league outfit when Sunderland come to Valley Parade tomorrow.

Clarke was returning from injury ahead of the Chelsea game and only got a couple of minutes of action but having started and scored in the win against MK Dons on Monday, he is aiming to play a bigger part this time around.

“I was out for five or six weeks with my knee,” says the 27 year-old, “so I was fortunate enough to get back for the Chelsea game and to come on was brilliant... I’ve kept the confidence I had before the injury.”

Strike partner

Meanwhile, Robbie Keane has helped to pave the way for Kevin Doyle to join him in MLS after recommending his former strike partner to the Colorado Rapids.

After targeting Doyle, who is still contracted to Championship outfit Wolves, the Rapids used their connections to get more information on the 31-year-old – and Keane was one of them. The LA Galaxy captain, who brought his team to Dublin yesterday for a pre-season trip, admitted that he had spoken glowingly of his Ireland team-mate to Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni.

“I got a call from the Rapids manager Pablo [Mastroeni], I used to play with him at Galaxy, so he asked me about Kevin. I highly recommended Kevin to him,” said Keane. “He would certainly do well over there. If he goes over there it will be great for him. It will be great for the league, great for him, and I told Pablo that you could not wish to have a better person.

“He’s a great guy off the pitch, works hard, works his socks off on the pitch, and is a handful. Kevin scores goals, so he would be perfect for them.”