Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has outlined his ambition for his side to improve on their ninth-place finish in the Premier League last season in the current campaign.

The Potters had a slow start to the term, failing to win any of their opening six matches, but have turned the corner to rise up the table by claiming victories in five of their last seven games.

Hughes believes that his team are on course to better their feat of last season, which he feels is a big achievement, considering the loss of key players during the summer.

He told the Stoke Sentinel: "Our ambitions are the same as at the beginning of the season and that is to be better than last year. Our challenge was to get more points than last year and we are on track for that.

"We've brought quality in, I feel. We lost key players in the group, Asmir Begovic, Steven Nzonzi and the like, so we had to make changes, not through choice, but we've coped. Jack [Butland] has come in and done great, and we've also coped without Steven.

"We will get better, and players like Bojan will get better as he gets fitter. Once everybody clicks on the same day we will cause problems. We've got key fixtures coming up that we need to deal with, but if we get through the Christmas fixtures, we will be very positive about the season ahead."

Stoke face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.