PREM: Stoke City v Leicester City preview

Stoke City v Leicester City preview

Marko Arnautovic starts a three-game ban when Stoke entertain Leicester.

The midfielder was dismissed in Wednesday's goalless draw with Southampton and will not now return until the new year.

Defensive duo Marc Muniesa and Erik Pieters should be fit after suffering knocks against the Saints but goalkeeper Jack Butland (ankle) and Geoff Cameron (knee) are out while winger Ibrahim Afellay will make his playing return in the Under-23s against Newcastle on Friday after being out since April with a knee injury.

Kasper Schmeichel could return for Leicester after missing the last six weeks with a fractured hand.

The goalkeeper will be assessed ahead of the game but Danny Drinkwater looks likely to miss out with a knee injury. The midfielder sat out Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth with the problem having missed the previous three league games through suspension.

But Danny Simpson will return from suspension for the Foxes after missing Tuesday's loss having collected five bookings this season.

Stoke boss Mark Hughes says "We are constantly looking at opportunities and I am sure we will be getting calls in January. It isn't an easy window to navigate, I have said that before.

"You can do good work in January and not get a player over the line but it helps out in the summer. That happened with Xherdan Shaqiri a couple of years ago.

"There is money there and if a player becomes available who we feel will help us then I am sure we will be able to get it done. We want players who will make a major impact straight away rather than squad players."

Teams

Stoke City (from): Given, Grant, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Pieters, Muniesa, Johnson, Whelan, Adam, Allen, Imbula, Bojan, Shaqiri, Sobhi, Walters, Bony, Diouf, Crouch.

Leicester City (from): Schmeichel, Zieler, Hamer, Simpson, Hernandez, Morgan, Huth, Wasilewski, Chilwell, Fuchs, Schlupp, Mahrez, King, James, Amartey, Mendy, Albrighton, Gray, Musa, Vardy, Okazaki, Ulloa, Slimani.