Stoke City have recorded successive wins over Norwich and Swansea, and face Chelsea this weekend.
January and February were a pretty terrible couple of months for Stoke fans, when it should have been the most exciting in the club’s recent history.
With a glamorous Europa League tie against Valencia on the horizon, the club just could not get going.
The club went on a losing streak in the league, which seemed to sap the energy out of them.
By time the first leg with Valencia came around, they were out of form, and just could not muster enough sustained pressure to make their home advantage count.
Their league position had dropped sharply, and another run of defeats could even have seen them dragged into an unlikely relegation scrap.
The turning point was the game against Crawley Town in the FA Cup, in which many expected the League Two side to spring an upset, but Stoke ran out winners even with 10 men.
Tony Pulis then made a big decision to leave at home several first choice starters, to miss the Valencia game.
It was a clear indication that while Europe was a great adventure, the Premier League is of utmost important, and the Potteries club simply had to get back into a winning routine.
The side acquitted themselves well in Spain, and were hard done by with a refereeing decision which led to a second 1-0 loss.
Importantly, Stoke’s key players were fresh for the home game with Swansea, winning 2-0, and kept a second clean sheet in a 1-0 win over Norwich.
The fightback is down to Tony Pulis’ recovery plan, prioritising the league as the club’s bread and butter, tightening up the defence, and now they are back to winning ways.
They still have an FA Cup quarter final to play- at Anfield, and could still end up back in Europe next season, but in the league they are back in the top half.
They are only three points behind cup opponents Liverpool, although the Reds have a game in hand, but now the club can continue looking forward to the future again, instead of spending the season looking over their shoulders.
image: © jad99
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