Michael O'Neill was striving for positivity in talking about Stoke City's injury crisis with the added absence of Joe Allen after his late red card at Bristol City on Wednesday evening.

The former Northern Ireland manager is seeing the decrease in his options as an opportunity for fringe players to grab and show him that they should be chosen more regularly.

O'Neill remained in good spirits when he spoke to the club's website.

He said: "Sadly, we haven’t got anyone coming back from injury. Our resources are depleted at present but the situation we find ourselves in will present opportunities for other players.

"The important thing is we believe we can still put out a team that will be competitive and have enough about it to win the game."

The Potters were still able to cause the Robins a lot of problems in midweek and Steven Fletcher will be left disappointed to not have found the net on more than one occasion. Tyrese Campbell is slowly getting up to speed and in combination with Jacob Brown, Stoke still have a very menacing attacking contingent.

Blackburn Rovers arrive at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday off the back of their 4-0 demolition of Peterborough United in midweek, Tony Mowbray will be confident of making up some ground in the top six race.

The Verdict

This matchup is brilliantly poised, Rovers and only a single point and place behind Stoke in seventh and with the hosts' fitness concerns the visitors will not be lacking any belief. Stoke's next four matches come against three of the current top seven, if they can ride out this period and remain in touching distance of the play-off places they put themselves in a great position for when the absentees begin to return.

The Potters assembled a very strong and deep squad in the summer transfer window and judgement day for that recruitment has arrived. Blackburn as an outside play-off contender will provide a good barometer to see just how robust the cover options in Stoke's squad are ahead of the January transfer window.