Stoke sweating on Pieters fitness for Leicester tie

Mark Hughes will make a late decision on the fitness of Erik Pieters ahead of Stoke City's Premier League clash with Leicester City.

Pieters was withdrawn at half-time on Sunday as Stoke fell to a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium with a groin injury and has not recovered as quickly as expected.

That could see the full-back miss this weekend's match at the King Power Stadium against bottom club Leicester, with Hughes saying Pieters will continue to be monitored.

"Erik is a bit of a worry for us to be fair, and we will need to check him out because he is still a little bit sore," he told the club's official website

"We had hoped that it would have settled down by now. He has felt something in his groin for a number of weeks, but in fairness to him it hasn't been noticeable because he has been playing as well as ever.

"He just felt something before the end of the first half, though, when he blocked a cross so we need to get to the bottom of that."

Pieters is not the only concern for Hughes as Steven N'Zonzi is also a doubt, but the midfielder has made better progress from a similar injury sustained against Arsenal.