Stoke City chairman Peter Coates drew positives from their 4-0 defeat to Chelsea.

The chairman says he was far happier with events against Chelsea on Saturday, despite the 4-0 scoreline, than he was by Stoke's limp exit from the League Cup at Bristol City four days earlier.

“Bristol City was a hard one to take, but the Chelsea game far less so," Coates told The Sentinel. “Every game you see mistakes, which don't always get punished, but against Chelsea they clearly were.

“I actually thought we played well and the scoreline was certainly unfair. We made three mistakes that were all punished. Forget the fourth goal, the game was done and dusted by then.

“But I felt that if we could have got a goal back at 2-0 down, and we had good chances, then we could have got back into the game.

“I wasn't disappointed by the performance, just the losing. You're always disappointed to lose."