LONDON (SE) - The urgency is growing for slumping Stoke City, who are in desperate need of three points at Loftus Road on Saturday to avoid the likely similar fate of Queens Park Rangers.
The Potters (7-13-13) have dropped three on the trot, have only one point from seven matches and one win in 13 as they have perilously fallen close to the drop. Stoke are 16th with 34 points, trailing Sunderland on goal differential while holding that same advantage over Aston Villa, but the three sides are just three points ahead of Wigan Athletic with five matches remaining.
Manager Tony Pulis feels 40 is the magic number to stay in the top flight, but the schedule is demanding with three road matches as well as one of Stoke's two remaining home matches will be against a Spurs team chasing a Champions League spot.
"We're looking for 40 points. If we lose the next three matches and win the last two we'll get to 40 points," he told the team's official website. "We've needed to score more goals - even when we were doing well we weren't scoring enough goals."
As Pulis noted, goals have been scarce for the Potters during their woes, and they are trying to regroup from a 2-0 home defeat to champions-elect Manchester United on Sunday. It was the fifth time during their winless streak they were held without a goal, and a breakthrough doesn't seem likely as Stoke attempt to end a six-match road losing streak.
The Potters have scored only nine away goals overall and have netted only two during an eight-match winless stretch (0-2-6) away from the Britannia Stadium. Additionally, Pulis is waiting on winger Matthew Etherington and defender Marc Wilson, both of whom are battling injuries and missed Sunday's loss.
"We're still a little bit concerned about Matty Etherington; he's the one that we're waiting on," Pulis said. "We'll see what he's like."
Ahead of only Reading on goal differential in the table with 24 points, Queens Park Rangers (4-12-17) face a daunting challenge in avoiding the drop. Manager Harry Redknapp watched his team's winless streak hit four matches after a 2-0 defeat at Everton on Saturday, giving up goals on either side of halftime near the intermission.
"At 0-0 I always felt we looked dangerous," Redknapp told QPR's official website. "But once we went 1-0 down we seemed to lose a bit of belief. It was a wicked deflection. We weren't the same team second half, that was our problem. We started the second half sloppy."
"Every game is a must-win but we need to win four games somehow for us to have any chance (of avoiding relegation)," he said. "It's not going to be easy to do but while there's games left you've got to believe that it can happen."
QPR had the run of play in most of the reverse fixture at Britannia on Nov. 10, but it was Charlie Adam's goal in the 52nd minute that gave the Potters the full three points in a 1-0 victory. Stoke are trying to complete the double after QPR turned the trick last season.
No comments:
Post a Comment