Exclusive – Etherington: Cup games can define Stoke's season

By Matt Vines

Matthew Etherington has told talkSPORT that Stoke’s upcoming cup games can shape their season.

The Potters, who have lost their last three Premier League games, take on Spanish giants Valencia twice in the Europa League and face Crawley Town in the FA Cup over a seven day period.

And the former West Ham wide man claims that positive results in those competitions will impact on the rest of the season.

"We’ve got a big few weeks coming up with the Valencia games home and away," the Britannia favourite told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast.

"Sandwiched in between that we’ve got the Crawley Town FA game as well and a few games in the league.

"It’s a big few weeks for us now, it could define our season.

“We know Crawley is going to be a tough game, they are a very confident side and they think they can turn us over so we will need to be very professional and give them all the respect they deserve.

“If we can get through in the Europa League and FA Cup it will really set up our season going into the remaining games."

Tony Pulis' men currently sit 13th in the Premier League and appear safe for this season.

But Etherington went on to state that the club must continue their picking up points at home or they'll be dragged into the relegation dogfight.

"It’s a massive few weeks. The home games in the league are going to be vitally important.

"We’ve got to make sure we pick up some points otherwise we will be looking over our shoulders instead of looking above us”.