Steven Schumacher wants the bet365 Stadium to be bouncing as Stoke City host his old club Plymouth Argyle in a match that could go a long way to confirming either side’s safety in the Championship.
Stoke are three points above the relegation zone and one point behind Plymouth with three matches to go this season. This home match is followed by a trip to promotion-chasing Southampton before a final day return to HQ to take on Bristol City.
Results need to improve sharply at home in the long-term and Schumacher hopes to lay down a marker in the two final run outs there this term, keeping the away end quiet and hauling themselves out of danger.
He said: “Results have been ok at home of late. We obviously had that first win for such a long time then picked up a couple of good results and had a defeat or two in there as well but that can happen, especially in a team who are in the bottom half of the division. That consistency isn’t quite there all of the time.
“To finish the season on a positive and then finish off against Bristol City at home can give everyone optimism for next season – but performances and optimism about the future are secondary at the moment. Points is all we’re focused on.”
He added: “Our fans have been really good, I can honestly say that. We had 4,000 at Sheffield Wednesday last weekend who really got behind the team. When we were going through a difficult moment in the first half, they helped us through. In the second-half when we fell behind they didn’t turn against the team and inspired them to come and get a result.
“That’s what we’re going to need again. We want the bet365 Stadium this weekend to be absolutely bouncing in our favour. We want to try as best as we can to keep Argyle fans quiet and that’s down to us as a group of staff and players to get the result we all desperately want.”
Fifty points is generally seen as the marker needed for safety in the Championship and a win will lift Stoke there. But it is so congested down at the bottom that at this stage it is still mathematically possible for it to take 54 points to stay up. Games pitting rivals together, including this one, Birmingham against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, and Huddersfield vs Birmingham will be pivotal.
Schumacher, when asked if a win for either team would guarantee safety, said: “I’m not sure because of how the other results are going at the bottom. Nobody would have predicted how results went last week. If everybody else wins their games around you then probably not – but you never know.
“You can’t get carried away, you can’t look too far into the future and you can’t look at what’s gone on previously – you can only focus on this actual game. Whoever gets the points and if someone manages to come out on top and get three points then it will give them a huge chance to stay up. We want that to be us.”
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