Stoke striker Mamady Sidibe is convinced the Premier League elite desperately want to see the club relegated. The 31 year old said: "If we keep going the way we are we will have a good chance of staying in the Premier League.

"I do not know whether the Premier League clubs would think it good if all three promoted sides stayed up, they want us to go down.

"But we are proving the critics wrong, everyone expects you to go straight back down. But we know it is not finished by a long way, there is a long way to go, and we must keep working every game."