Stoke City legend Denis Smith believes that the Potters will eventually stay up in the Championship when the curtain falls on the season, despite the difficult situation they find themselves in.
Steven Schumacher’s side are at the wrong end of the Championship table, just two points ahead of relegation battlers Huddersfield Town, who sit in the final relegation spot.
With just eight matches remaining to settle their status for next term, they face a race against time to get the job done.
Smith, on his part, believes that the club he had a lengthy association with will survive, though it is going to be a tough fight to the finish.
“I’m fairly confident we won’t go down but it’s going to be tight”, Smith told the BBC.
While building on from the position they finish in will be key, Smith believes that the season has to be finished with first.
“If we finish fifth or sixth off bottom, that’s where we are and then we’ve got to start building after, but get this season over first.
“People are talking about next season, we don’t know where we are going to be next season.
“The next game is the important game.
“I honestly believe that we’ll stay up.
“We could be comfortably a few more places up the league, but it still doesn’t make it a good season the fact that we’ve stayed up.”
The Potters legend is clear though that relegation should not be something Stoke are even discussing.
“We shouldn’t be talking about ‘are they going to go down?’.
“I honestly believe, on what I’ve seen and what we’ve got within the club, that we will stay up.”
Though Stoke have won two of their last five matches, they face key games to come, with a trip to Hull City and a clash against Huddersfield over the long Easter weekend.
