Stoke City winger Liam Lawrence hopes to be available by Christmas.

"I've never been out injured for this long before and it's so frustrating," Lawrence told the Stoke Sentinel. "The lads have done really well to put us in a good position, but I want to be a part of it.

"The surgeon told me a week ago that it would be four weeks before I would be in training and in contention.

"It should be another two to three weeks before I'm in full training and then, you never know, I might get a sniff after that.

"But I have to get fit because I haven't been able to do much for six weeks now.

"I've been swimming and trying to keep my fitness up in different ways, but it's just been so frustrating not being able to run."