Positive Hughes keen to upset the odds ahead of tough Stoke fixtures

Mark Hughes insists he is not put off by Stoke City’s daunting fixture list and believes his side can bloody a few noses in the next four weeks.

After a Christmas blip, Stoke have found something near their best form in 2017 – with wins against Watford, Sunderland and Crystal Palace lifting them into the top half of the Premier League.

But their new-found confidence is set to be severely tested with a string of tough fixtures against title challengers Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester City.

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And Hughes is confident his charges can ruffle some feathers and cause an upset or two.

“The next four games on paper are really testing for us, but we are looking forward to them – it will be a real challenge for us,” he said.

“We have been to places like Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United and shown we can compete with those sides.

“It’s important to start brightly in those sort of matches and then produce 90 minutes of good effort and have a little bit of luck, which you need to come away from games with those sort of sides with a positive result.

“We have good talent here, we will create things and the big thing for us is making sure that we take those opportunities.”