STOKE City chairman Peter Coates is hoping four points from the last six fixtures might be enough to save his club from relegation.
But he admits that a final tally of 38 points would leave it tight amid the suffocating climate now afflicting the bottom of the Premier League.
Coates is declining to answer questions on the future of manager Tony Pulis for fear of fuelling debate over his position.
But he clearly remains confident that Pulis, his manager for the past seven seasons, can steer Stoke through their current crisis.
Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
"I suspect 38 points will do it," he estimated, "but certainly a couple of wins and you are OK because 40 points will absolutely do it.
"It's up to us now to get enough points to stay in the Premier League. We've got as good a chance as anybody else and it's up to us to see it through because no-one does you any favours.
With Reading and QPR so far adrift, most onlookers now believe it is a straight fight between five clubs to avoid the one remaining relegation place.
"It is tremendously difficult for them now, but they still have a fighting chance and they are certainly not down," he stated.
"I thought they were extremely unlucky with 10 men against Wigan on Sunday. I can only assume Harry Redknapp must have run over a cat to get luck like that."
He acknowledged Stoke's shortcomings after defeat to Aston Villa made it just one win in 13, but insisted there have been plenty of positive signs recently.
"But we came away from the Everton game and I thought we deserved something, Newcastle likewise, so that's two good away games where we've got nothing and been very unfortunate.
"West Brom at home, although the game was a bit flat, we got an important point and they came for a point, and there's nothing wrong with that because they've had a poor record against us over the years.
"And against Villa on Saturday we were beaten in the end by a fluke. A great goal, but not one that would normally go in. It killed us off at a late stage when I thought we were good for a point or could even have won the game after equalising," he added.
STOKE City's under-21s recorded a rare victory after goals in the first 11 minutes from Adam Thomas and Jordan Richardson led them to a 2-1 success at Crystal Palace.
Stoke are now bottom only on goal difference from Palace, for whom former Portsmouth striker Aruna Dindane bagged their goal.
No comments:
Post a Comment