{"id":12606,"date":"2017-04-26T16:50:51","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T16:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.violetsport.com\/2017\/04\/26\/mark-hughes-shows-national-loyalties-by-claiming-it-is-important-for-one-club-to-avoid-relegation\/"},"modified":"2017-04-26T16:50:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T16:50:51","slug":"mark-hughes-shows-national-loyalties-by-claiming-it-is-important-for-one-club-to-avoid-relegation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.violetsport.com\/?p=12606","title":{"rendered":"Mark Hughes Shows National Loyalties by Claiming it Is 'Important' for One Club to Avoid Relegation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the Premier League heads\u00a0into the closing weeks of the season,\u00a0<\/span>Stoke City’s Welsh\u00a0manager\u00a0Mark Hughes has said\u00a0<\/span>it is important for his country’s\u00a0football that Swansea City remain in the Premier League.<\/span><\/p>\n

The former Wales International witnessed his side lose 2-0 to 18th-placed\u00a0Swansea City on Saturday, courtesy of\u00a0goals from Fernando Llorente and Tom Carroll.<\/inline><\/p>\n

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\"Swansea<\/div>\n

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In an interview with\u00a0?Wales Online,\u00a0Hughes, who won 72 caps with Wales during his playing career, commented that while it will be tough for Paul Clement’s side it is ‘important’ that they avoid the drop.<\/inline><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough for them and it will be very close, but they\u2019re a very talented side,” Hughes said.<\/inline><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the quality they have on paper you look at their team and wonder how have they got themselves into this situation.<\/inline><\/p>\n

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\"Stoke<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve helped them in terms of what they\u2019re hoping for from the games they\u2019ve got left. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll do everything they can to stay up. It\u2019s important for Welsh football clearly if they can stay in the league. But they have to go out there and do it,” he said.<\/p>\n

Stoke have now gone six consecutive\u00a0away games in a row without finding the back of the net in a single one of those games. Former Swansea City star Joe Allen was the closes the Potters have come to scoring after his deflected Tom Carroll shot dipped over Jack Butland and into the opposition’s net.<\/p>\n

Joe Allen also commented on the own goal with the following:\u00a0\u201cEveryone in there knows that we weren\u2019t good enough today and didn\u2019t do enough to get a result.<\/inline><\/p>\n

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\"Swansea<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe have to make sure we react next weekend, it\u2019s as simple as that.”<\/p>\n

Mark Hughes’ Stoke City come up against a struggling\u00a0Slaven Bili?’s West Ham side in Saturday’s 3pm kick-off. The home side will be looking to take all three points as they attempt to finish as high up in the table as possible with eighth not too far out.<\/inline><\/p>\n

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