Jonathan Woodgate could start against his former club Newcastle. Woodgate played the full 90 minutes of the 2-1 Carling Cup defeat to Liverpool having missed the previous three games with a calf injury, while Jermaine Pennant might also be involved having appeared as a second-half replacement against the Reds following a hamstring injury. Danny Higginbotham, out since April with a serious knee injury, is on the comeback trail and has turned out for the reserves but striker Mamady Sidibe is facing another spell on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury. Newcastle boss Alan Pardew could include midfielder Cheik Tiote and defender Steven Taylor in his starting line-up. Taylor, who broke his nose in last weekend's 1-0 victory over Wigan, is the more likely to play, possibly with a mask, while Tiote is battling to recover from a knee injury. One player who will definitely be absent is striker Shola Ameobi, who has been ruled out for at least a month with a hamstring problem. Stoke (from): Begovic, Sorensen, Nash, Wilson, Huth, Shawcross, Upson, Wilkinson, Whelan, Whitehead, Diao, Etherington, Walters, Shotton, Arismendi, Pennant, Delap, Crouch, Palacios, Jerome, Jones, Higginbotham, Woodgate. Newcastle (from): Krul, Elliot, Simpson, R Taylor, Santon, Ferguson, Coloccini, S Taylor, Perch, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Marveaux, Obertan, Gosling, Guthrie, Ben Arfa, Abeid, Vuckic, Smith, Ba, Best, Lovenkrands, Sammy Ameobi.
