Jack Butland: 'Stoke City are not lacking belief'

Goalkeeper Jack Butland has said that Stoke City still believe that they can avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Ahead of Saturday's clash with Liverpool at Anfield, Stoke sit four points adrift of safety and the Potters will likely need to win their remaining three matches to stay in the top flight.

Stoke have won just one fixture since the middle of January, but Butland has insisted that Paul Lambert's team are not lacking in confidence ahead of the trip to Merseyside.

The 25-year-old told Sky Sports News: "Are we confident? Always. You've got to be. It can be easy to come in and be downhearted or give up but it's important that we don't. You have to stay upbeat. We're picking up points - not the three we'd like - so the gap is closing but we need three points now.

"We've shown we can score goals and get ahead and we've shown lately we can be a lot better defensively as well. The signs are there but this is the stage of the season where talking's not enough - we need to do it on the pitch."

Stoke face Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Swansea in their remaining three matches.