VIRGIL van Dijk has shrugged off an injury scare and declared himself confident that he will be available for Saints’ Premier League match with Stoke City.

Despite withdrawing from the Netherlands squad with a knee strain, Van Dijk is confident he will be fit for Saturday’s match, writes Peter Howard.

The 24-year-old hobbled off halfway through Holland’s 3-2 win against Wales at the Millennium Stadium, meaning he would not have played in last night’s friendly against Germany which was called off over security fears.

However, the centre-back, who was signed by Saints from Celtic on transfer deadline day in the summer for a fee that could rise to £13m, has reassured the Saints faithful that he expects to be ready to play against the Potters at St Mary’s.

“I think it is fine but I didn’t want to force it in the second half because it is a friendly,” he explained after the Wales game.

“I am very confident it will be OK. We checked everything at half-time and it is nothing really bad.”

If all goes to plan and Van Dijk is passed fit, his job will be to deal with Republic of Ireland two-goal hero Jon Walters, who fired Eire to the Euro 2016 finals on Monday night.

The Irish defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-1 in their playoff double header.

The 32-year-old striker has netted eight goals for club and country this term and will be in a confident mood after his goalscoring exploits for the Republic.

Van Dijk will be a vital cog in dealing with the Stoke danger man, who is top-scorer at the Britannia Stadium with four goals.

The Dutch defender has made an outstanding start to life in England and his presence would be sorely missed if he was unavailable.

Although Ronald Koeman would be able to call upon the services of Steven Caulker or Maya Yoshida in his absence to play alongside Jose Fonte at centre back.

Saints man Shane Long, Walters’ Ireland team-mate, will also hope to be involved for Koeman’s side for the first time since late September, when he scored twice in a 6-0 win at MK Dons in the Capital One Cup.

Long made his return from an ankle injury for Ireland against Bosnia as a 55th minute substitute.