Stoke City boss Mark Hughes believes an eighth-place finish in the Premier League may be beyond his side following Saturday's 2-0 loss to Swansea City.
Hughes' men slumped to defeat at the Liberty Stadium, goals from Jefferson Montero and Ki Sung-yeung settling a contest in which Stoke were reduced to 10 men as Marc Wilson saw red.
The Staffordshire club are now six points adrift of Swansea in eighth, which would represent a record Premier League finish for both teams.
And Hughes told Stoke's official website: "Eighth place might be a little bit beyond us now I would suggest.
"We certainly didn't help ourselves with the result yesterday. I felt if we could have got something out of the game, including a draw, then it would have been a good result for us.
"I say that because we felt Swansea had a difficult run of games coming up compared to ourselves who feel like the final three games of the season [versus Tottenham, Burnley and Liverpool] are winnable."
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