Mamady Sidibe will not feature for Stoke City Football Club until the New Year...but it could have been a lot worse for the Premier League new boys.

Sidibe fell awkwardly during the goalless draw with Fulham at the weekend and injured his knee, but Tony Pulis has revealed the injury is not as bad as initially feared.

"He'll be out over Christmas and most probably miss the FA Cup game at Hartlepool United in the New Year," Pulis explained to the club's official website. "But after that we are keeping our fingers crossed.

"It seems that he has hyper-extended his knee and left it a little unstable as a result, so we've got to be careful with him. He will have a mix of rest and strengthening work to build up the knee again.

"He will most probably wear a brace for a short while to help stabilise it. We are relieved it wasn't any worse than this because you can sometimes be in the lap of the gods when it comes to knee injuries."