Sam Allardyce has declared it’s 50/50 on whether Diafra Sakho makes it into the starting line-up against Stoke City at the weekend.

Unsurprisingly, it was the first question at the morning presser on the game and the manager said: “It’s touch and go, we’ll make a decision on Friday to see how his shoulder is.

There’s no dislocation or fracture but he’s still in a bit of pain. We’ll assess it tomorrow, maybe on Saturday morning if needs be.”

“It’s possible (he could start), at the moment it’s about 50/50. There’s still 48 hours to go before the match so that’s a lot of recovery time.”

He warned  the squad that it#s very easy to come unstuck in games like this after a victory over a top side and said: “The players now need to maintain and build on their performances.

We need to make sure we are mentally prepared for the game against Stoke City. It’s very easy to lose after a big result like the one against Manchester City so I need to make sure the players are guarded against that.”