TONY PULIS and Roberto Mancini have selection headaches in the countdown to the FA Cup fifth round replay at the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke City's manager will definitely be without captain Abdoulaye Faye and full-back Andy Wilkinson who will be serving suspensions on Wednesday evening, while Danny Higginbotham was sidelined for the win at Portsmouth through injury.
Following Faye's red card in the Premier League match against Manchester City last week, Wilkinson was given his marching orders for two bookable offences at Fratton Park, although the second of his yellow cards appeared to be a harsh decision.
Their absence means that Pulis will be hoping that Higginbotham recovers in time to take his place in the Potters back four for the cup replay.
Mancini's problems are also mounting up and he admitted that City badly need leading scorer Carlos Tevez back as soon as possible.
Tevez is at home in Argentina on compassionate leave and it seems unlikely he will be back in time or fit enough to play at the Britannia Stadium.
Mancini said that they were unsure when the striker will be back and doubts whether he will have done any training while he has been away.
City will definitely be without Patrick Vieira (suspended), Adam Johnson (cup-tied) and Martin Petrov (injured) for Wednesday evening's tie.
And there are doubts surrounding the fitness of strike pair Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz, and the availability of Tevez.
