On-loan Blues striker Ali Al-Hamadi has been ruled out of Iraq’s World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait and Palestine having suffered a knock during Stoke’s 1-0 defeat at Millwall on Saturday.
Al-Hamadi is set to return to the Potters having initially been expected to be OK for the World Cup fixtures.
The 23-year-old, who has been capped by Iraq 14 times, scoring three goals, joined Stoke on loan in January.