Stoke City: Asmir Begovic says players still belief and spirit - This is Staffordshire

ASMIR Begovic made no attempt to hide Stoke's precarious position after defeat at home to Aston Villa left them in serious relegation trouble.

The keeper said: "We realise we are in a dogfight. We've been in this position before, but hopefully the spirit of the club will take us through.

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"But it's going to be difficult. We've got six tough games left and nothing's going to be given to us, that's for sure."

This was arguably City's poorest home performance all season, but Begovic believes the players still have the belief and spirit to halt their slide and get out of trouble.

He added: "If we win the next three games at home, we'll have the fortress back and everyone will be on top of their toes.

But in the dressing room and most importantly in the manager, we've got good characters, guys who are going to stand up and fight no matter what happens.

But those hopes were dashed seven minutes later when Matthew Lowton produced an incredible volley to score from 25 yards and put Villa 2-1 in front.

Lowton was being interviewed on the side of the pitch at the end of the game when Begovic was walking past. The keeper stopped, tapped him on the shoulder and simply said 'great goal'.

Villa boss Paul Lambert said he doubted there would be a better goal scored in Europe this season. Begovic said it was one of the best goals he'd ever conceded.

He added: "It's definitely up there. There are a couple of other screamers in the top corner, but that's definitely in the top three.

"It came at a terrible time for us because I thought we were on top of the game and going on probably to win it because we were putting them under so much pressure. But that relieved them of all sorts of pressure.

"It was a fantastic strike, a fantastic bit of skill – but that's the way things are going for us at the moment. Everything kind of piles on, but you just have to keep going, stand up and keep fighting.

"We were world beaters at Christmas. Now we're conceding to top-corner screamers, penalties, this-way-or-that-way decisions, it's unbelievable the kind of run we're on.

"But we have to believe, get back to work on Monday, keep trying to do the right things, stand up and fight together."

One more win to reach 37 points could possibly be enough for Stoke, although that's less likely now Villa have improved their own position with this result.

Begovic added: "Time will tell. We're setting our sights high, looking at 40 points and beyond to make sure for ourselves.

"We've got a couple of teams around us to play which helps and they'll be massive games, like today was. Today was a big blow, but we have to keep going."

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