Stoke are just three points off the drop zone and midfielder Charlie Adam believes next Saturday's game at fellow strugglers QPR is a must win. "We need to go to QPR next week and win," said Adam. "They're in a bad position so it's probably going to be an edgy match but they're at home and if we can stop them in the first 15 or 20 minutes getting the crowd up then we can go there and get a victory.

"It's going to be tough but we need to show a bit of character. We've got the quality in the dressing room and we'll just hope for some kind of bounce between now and the end of the season."