STOKE-ON-TRENT, England - Stoke City players must believe they can avoid relegation from the Premier League this season, midfielder Badou Ndiaye has said ahead of Monday night's crucial league clash at West Ham United.
Fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur narrowly beat Stoke 2-1 last weekend, extending the Potters' winless streak to nine matches and leaving Paul Lambert's side second from bottom in the table, four points adrift of safety.
With just five matches left to salvage their campaign, Ndiaye said Stoke would need to play even better against West Ham than they did against Spurs.
"The belief has to be there that we can stay up," the Senegalese international was quoted as saying by the Stoke Sentinel.
"If that isn't there we might as well give up and everyone can go home... It's not easy but we can look at each other and know that everyone has given everything."
West Ham have drawn four and won one of their last five home league matches against Stoke. The London outfit are currently on 34 points from 32 games.