Stoke should stay up comfortably - Elliott

BBC Radio Stoke commentator Mark Elliott predicts Stoke will comfortably avoid relegation this season after their FA Cup exit at the hands of Cardiff City on Saturday.

Speaking on A Cold Wet Tuesday Night, Elliott said he has seen enough signs of improvement in Stoke since Mark Robins took over as manager to ensure they will be safe in the second tier for another season.

"They're not far away as an attacking team," Elliott said, following the Potters' penalty shootout defeat after drawing 3-3 at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday.

"They get into really good areas, and so often the final decision, the final ball, the final shot, isn't the right one.

"I do think Mark Robins has the right ideas to get more out of them going forward, and is trying to implement them. I just think it might take a bit of time."

Robins took charge of the Potters on New Years Day and has so far overseen a steady start to his time in charge, losing just one of his first seven matches in all competitions.

Elliott said: "He is trying to get his ideas in place and embedded and across in a context where players are probably under-cooked on the training ground and overplayed [on a matchday].

"I think you can see that they are more of a threat, certainly than what they were under Narcis Pelach.

"The big thing for Stoke this season is they get enough points on the board to stay in the division and then you might start looking at the future."

Elliott also singled out Robins' omission of regular number one goalkeeper Viktor Johansson as a factor behind their fourth-round exit.

"I think, without being too critical of Jack Bonham, it highlighted again just how fortunate they are to have Viktor Johansson in goal in the league," Elliott added.

"With Johansson in goal I certainly don't think they concede at least one of those goals.

"I think the season will probably peter out and actually that is probably something we would have taken in the last couple of weeks of the Narcis Pelach era when it looked like Stoke were bang in relegation trouble."