TONY PULIS was boosted by the return to fitness of Ryan Shawcross as he made five changes to the side beaten at Manchester City on Boxing Day.
Shawcross took his place alongside Abdoulaye Faye at the heart of the Potters defence for the local derby against in-form Birmingham City at the Britannia Stadium, while Robert Huth passed a late fitness test to replace the injured Andy Wilkinson at right back.
With Glenn Whelan and Salif Diao both serving one-match suspensions for accumulating five bookings, Rory Delap returned to the starting line-up alongside Dean Whitehead in the centre of midfield, while Liam Lawrence lined up on the right hand side.
There was also a recall for James Beattie in attack and he partnered Tuncay as Mamady Sidibe dropped to the substitute's bench.
With a number of absentees, Amdy Faye was named among the substitutes for the first time in the Premier League this season.
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish fielded an unchanged side as the Blues looked to stretch their unbeaten run to eleven matches.
STOKE CITY (4-4-2):Sorensen; Huth, Shawcross, Faye, Higginbotham; Lawrence, Delap, Whitehead, Etherington; Beattie, Tuncay. Subs: Simonsen, Cort, Fuller, Sidibe, Pugh, Collins, Faye.
BIRMINGHAM CITY (4-4-2): Hart; Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden; Jerome, Benitez. Subs: Taylor, Phillips, McSheffrey, Fahey, Johnson, Carsley, Vignal.
REFEREE: Martin Atkinson.
