Clarets hope to have skipper back at Stoke

Image source, Rex Features

Image caption, Josh Brownhill joined Burnley in January 2020

Burnley boss Scott Parker hopes influential skipper Josh Brownhill could be back for Saturday's trip to Stoke.

The Clarets are two points off the top and on a run of three straight wins and four clean sheets ahead of their trip to the Bet365 Stadium.

Five-goal leading scorer Brownhill had played every minute of 15 Championship matches until Saturday's win at his former club Bristol City, when he went off after 84 minutes with an apparent knock.

He subsequently missed Tuesday night's win over Coventry at Turf Moor, with Josh Laurent taking his place in midfield.

: "Josh trained on the grass today. After the weekend鈥檚 game it probably came a little too early to play him on Tuesday.

"He has progressed well, but we will see where we are on Friday and make a call on that."

"There's good signs with a few of the lads, Joe Worrall, Lyle Foster and Hannes Delcroix are all progressing nicely and have been out on the grass.

"It's just about getting game time now, which is key for them. Getting minutes for the 21s and then building that back up to match fitness."