Steven Schumacher is waiting on his internationals to report back unharmed as he gets Stoke City ready for a return to action in the Championship.
Stoke won 5-0 in the Carabao Cup at Middlesbrough and 1-0 away in the league at Plymouth to go into a fortnight’s break, with nine players jetting off around the world on international duty.
Sol Sidibe and Jaden Dixon appear to have come through three games unscathed for England under-18s while Viktor Johansson has impressed in two caps for Sweden, including last night’s 3-0 win over Estonia in Stockholm.
Lewis Koumas is on standby to start for Wales for the first time in the Nations League away in Montenegro this evening (7.45pm) while Million Manhoef will be in action for Netherlands under-21s against Georgia at home in Limburg (7pm).
Emre Tezgel, Ashley Phillips and Tommy Simkin have one more game for England under-20s, against Romania on Tuesday (7pm) Andrew Moran will line up for Ireland under-21s at home against Latvia on Tuesday too (5pm).
Jordan Thompson pulled out of Northern Ireland duty to make sure he recovers from a calf strain while Enda Stevens (calf) and Michael Rose (ankle) are also hoping to return to Schumacher’s squad this week. Summer signing Sam Gallagher (calf) shouldn’t be too far behind either
An update is expected this week on Bosun Lawal (back) after he underwent scans during the international break hoping for the green light to step up his training. Jack Bonham has been resting a wrist fracture, in the knowledge that he would be prepared to strap it up and play if Johansson was suddenly ruled out.
Ben Pearson (hamstring) is the long-term absentee after requiring surgery in the off-season. He has been hoping to be back in training in October with a task of then building up his fitness to become available for selection.
Tom Cannon and Tatsuki Seko are both available for selection at Oxford, having been signed too late on deadline day to be considered for the Plymouth game.
Stoke are next in under-21s action with a Premier League 2 game against Arsenal at the bet365 Stadium on Monday, September 23 (7pm) and their next Central League match is against Huddersfield Town next month.
