Stoke's Peter Crouch out for around 1 month with hamstring injury

Peter Crouch's chicken legs have failed him.

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has confirmed his forward suffered a hamstring injury during Tuesday's League Cup quarterfinal triumph over Sheffield Wednesday, and will be sidelined for up to a month.

"Unfortunately Peter suffered an injury in midweek, meaning he is out of the game tomorrow," Hughes revealed to the club website. "It's likely that he will miss the next three or four weeks which is a huge disappointment to him, just as it is to us."

It is expected that Senegalese striker Mame Diouf, who was unavailable on Tuesday due to his wife being in labour, will deputise for Crouch in Saturday's visit of Manchester City.

Glen Johnson is also expected to be involved after he was substituted at half-time in Tuesday's 2-0 win as a precaution.

"Glen is training today with the rest of the group and we aren't expecting him to suffer any implications.

"All being well he comes through the session and is available for the game on Saturday."

Stoke has steadily improved its form following a poor start to the Premier League campaign, and Hughes will hope to get one over City this week - the club he managed between 2008 and 2009.