Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has demanded an improvement from his side when they take on Newcastle United at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
The Potters' fine run of five matches without defeat came to a shuddering halt when they were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last weekend, and Hughes left his side in no doubt about what he thought of the performance.
With Stoke sitting pretty in 10th place, free from the threat of relegation, Hughes's reaction may appear to be over the top. However, the club have a number of personal milestones that they could achieve before the end of the campaign, which would make it one of the best seasons in their long history.
The Potters are aiming for their first ever top-half finish in the Premier League, while they also need eight more points for their highest ever points tally, four more wins for their most amount of victories and nine more goals for the highest-scoring top-flight season in the club's history.
They have their home form to thank for much of their success this season having only lost twice at the Britannia in the league. Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal have all come away with nothing, while the likes of Manchester City and Everton were forced to settle for draws.
Indeed, only the top five teams in the Premier League have a better home record than Stoke this season. They are unbeaten in their last five in front of their own fans, winning four of those games.
Victory on Saturday would lift them to within three points of Newcastle and could raise hopes of finishing even higher than 10th place, with both the Magpies and Southampton in their sights.
However, they will be without Robert Huth and Oussama Assaidi for the match, while Stephen Ireland and Charlie Adam are both injury doubts.
Newcastle, meanwhile, will be keen to turn their form around if only for pride's sake rather than league position. They have lost four of their last five matches, and their three most recent outings have seen them ship a whopping 11 goals without scoring themselves.
Just one goal in their last five outings is a poor return and a far cry from the form they showed in the reverse fixture between these two sides, when they ran out 5-1 winners. They have failed to score in five of their seven away matches since the turn of the year and are very much limping towards the finish line.
Alan Pardew continues to serve his touchline ban, while the likes of Moussa Sissoko, Loic Remy and Ryan Taylor will also watch on from the stands due to injury. Mathieu Debuchy, Gabriel Obertan and Tim Krul are doubts for the game and may not be risked.
Recent form
Stoke: WDWWWL
Newcastle: WLWLLL
Possible starting lineups
Stoke: Begovic; Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters; N'Zonzi, Whelan; Odemwingie, Walters, Arnautovic; Crouch
Newcastle: Elliot; Santon, Williamson, Coloccini, Haidara; Tiote, Anita; Ben Arfa, De Jong, Gouffran; Cisse
Sports Mole says: 2-1
No Data Analysis info
