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©INPHO/James Crombie
Injury blow

Whelan set for more time on the sidelines

Stoke City midfielder Glenn Whelan injured his hamstring during Ireland’s friendly defeat against Greece last night.

GLENN WHELAN LOOKS set to miss Stoke’s crunch Premier League clash against West Ham after suffering a recurrence of his hamstring injury while on international duty.

Whelan lasted just 34 minutes of Ireland’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Greece before he limped off to be replaced by Keith Andrews in midfield.

Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni revealed that the Dubliner never fully recovered from the injury which sidelined him for most of October, and said that he was only half-fit before playing on Wednesday night.

Stoke host Sam Allardyce’s high-flying West Ham, currently sixth in the Premier League, on Monday night but Trapattoni said it is unlikely that Whelan will be ready in time.

“Whelan was already before the game 50%,” the Italian said.

“He was injured and when I was in touch with him I said, ‘be careful because the hamstring is very dangerous.’ He played and afterwards said he was ok.

“In fact he played yesterday, but this hamstring is always very dangerous and in the first half, he was out.”

“Now we [Ireland] have time but for his team, I don’t know. It think it would be difficult for him to play on Monday.”

Stoke are currently 12th in the Premier League with two wins from their 11 games.

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