There was a point in time when Robin van Persie was considered to be one of the best attackers in the world of football but the Dutchman has been experiencing a downfall as he is playing with the Turkish outfit Fenerbahce and has not managed to perform at the high level that he did not too long ago.

Robin van Persie proved that he still has what it takes to perform at a world class level even at a fairly elevated as he scored a sublime goal in the opening game of the 2014 World Cup after connecting with a cross and chipping the ball past the likes of Iker Casillas.

Stoke City have been slowly transforming as a football club under the stewardship of Mark Hughes and the club got into the top half of the table after a 1-0 win over Newcastle United.

Following this victory, Hughes said that the club needs to transform this win into a top-10 finish for this campaign. Newcastle have been fast slipping down the table, while Stoke have enjoyed a good run of form in contrast. This has enabled Hughes’ men to close in within three points of Newcastle with only a couple of matches left in the season.

Wilson Palacios arrived to Stoke City back in August of 2011 with the Premier League club having to pay a transfer fee of €6 million in order to secure his services but the Honduran footballer has made less than 40 league appearances for the club as he has been facing a series of fitness and injury problems which has left him out of the playing field on a large amount of occasions.

Mark Hughes released a few statements in relation to the situation of Wilson Palacios.

“He was in the team for the first game because he had a really good pre-season, but unfortunately he had an issue and couldn’t make the kick off. He was out for a couple of weeks and couldn’t get back in, but he’s done well in games with 20 or 25 minutes to go when we have seen games out”.

Stoke City signed John Guidetti for the remainder of the current season, Guidetti is a young rising star that has been wanted by a number of Premier League clubs for the past few months but ultimately, Manchester City decided to give him some experience outside of the Etihad Stadium and concluded with a move to Stoke City.

The 21 years old forward is not experiencing the best of times as he has already expressed the frustration he has and concerns surrounding his lack of games in his new club.

Guidetti was not used at all during Stoke City’s match against Chelsea as they played in the FA Cup and had to settle to play as a substitute player during their match against Crystal Palace where he managed to appear in the pitch for 11 minutes.

Stoke city manager Mark Hughes has said that he is disappointed with Tottenham’s decision to go to the FA disciplinary panel in order to complain Charlie Adam’s tackle on midfielder Paulinho.

The Brazilian was subjected to an intense tackle from the former Liverpool midfielder and he came out was in the tackle. He is set to miss the next month of action due to suffering an ankle ligament injury and Tottenham felt that Adam should be punished for his over the top challenge.

The 24 years old striker of Stoke City Marko Arnautovic who picked up a hamstring injury during a training session for his club will be unable to play for an undetermined estimated time but he is still confident that they can push forward even without him.

“I think the team is good,” said Arnautovic, “but I am not playing because of injury. I hope my team-mates are going to get the points. They have good players, but we can take points against everybody.

Robert Huth is the latest addition to the list of injuries although however it is expected that he will be unavailable to play for next few weeks as he has to undergo a surgery on his knee after carrying the injury during a number of matches and now it will finally be taken cared.

The Stoke City manager Mark Hughes believes that Jack Butland’s loan spell at Barnsley will benefit him as he will get regular playing opportunities there.

Butland who is just 20 years of age at the moment was placed on loan to Barnsley a couple of days ago for a brief period of 3 months.

Talking to the reporters on Friday, Hughes said, “We were always looking to place Jack on loan so that he could get playing chances regularly. He is a superb shot stopper and we have massive hopes with him.”

Meanwhile, Stoke’s first choice goalkeeper Asmir Begovic is in news too. There have been a few reports that he is on the radar of a couple of big clubs i.e. Napoli and Atletico Madrid.

When asked about that, Hughes said, “I am not surprised to hear all this. Asmir is a fine keeper and that’s why he is wanted by the clubs. However, I don’t have any idea about the credibility of these reports.”

When asked about his team’s win against Tranmere Rovers on Wednesday, Hughes said, “We showed a lot of improvement in that game and that was fantastic to see. We need to keep getting better.”

Stoke City’s performance in the ongoing Premier League has been decent so far. Out of their 5 games, they have won 2; have lost 2 and in the remaining 1, they have shared points. They are currently at the 9th position in the points table.

When asked about his team’s performance in the League matches so far, Hughes said, “It has been a mixed start for us. We haven’t set the world on fire, but, we haven’t been that poor either. The upcoming games are very important. We need to secure points.”

Hull City have come to the Premier league once again through the play-offs position and this time they will be hoping to stay in the division for much longer than their first spell.

The club has made money available for manager Steve Bruce to spend in the transfer window, but it has so far been a frustrating time for the manager. He has said that the club are still looking at three midfielders to bring in before the transfer window closes. The club will be starting the new season with a tough away match against Chelsea, who will be one of the favourites for the league title.

Hull City have been heavily linked with a move for Stoke City midfielder Wilson Palacios, whose future is in the major doubt after the arrival of Mark Hughes. Palacios was signed by former manager Tony Pulis in order to fit into a system that involved a direct style of football. Hughes has been brought into the club in order to play a more attractive style, and Palacios is widely expected to be heading to the exit door. Bruce has admitted that he would like to bring in the Honduras midfielder, while he also has other targets in his mind as well.

“The money we’ve got in, we’ll put towards a midfield player which we’re obviously trying to bring in. In the end it was a decent deal [selling Evans to Blackburn] for all concerned. It puts a bit more in our kitty. I think everyone knows we’re looking at bringing in a couple of midfielders, maybe three now we’ve let a couple out. We’ve got to bring at least a couple in but we’ll be patient,” said the club manager. Hull City will be hoping to get at least five points from their opening five matches.

Stoke City has extended the contract of the English winger Jermaine Pennant by 1 year. Pennant’s two and half years’ contract with Stoke had expired at the end of the last season.

At the start of this month, Stoke had announced that Pennant’s contract would not be renewed and he would be leaving the club this summer, but, it seems that the 30 years old winger has managed to impress the new boss Mark Hughes.

Announcing the extension of Pennant’s contract, Hughes said, “I am a great admirer of Jermaine. He has played all around the world in the last 15 years and has done well everywhere. It’s always good to have such a hugely experienced player in the side.”

The chief executive of Stoke City, Tony Scholes, was also there in the press conference. He said, “In the last season, Jermaine did struggle a bit, but, he is determined to make up for that next season. He is a tough character and despite being in his 30s, he is as energetic as anybody in the squad.”

Pennant had signed for the Potters in December 2010 after leaving Real Zaragoza. Stoke bought him after paying a transfer fee of 1.73 million Pounds.

Pennant got only a few playing opportunities in the second half of the 2010-11 season, but, he managed to make his mark in those matches.

Unfortunately, Pennant couldn’t carry on that form in the next season. He was inconsistent throughout the season and at the end of the season, there were talks of him being put on sale by Stoke. However, that didn’t happen eventually and Pennant continued to be a part of Stoke City.

In the last season, Pennant found it hard to find a place in the starting XI. The new signing Michael Kightly was preferred ahead of him in most of the matches.

In October last year, Pennant was placed on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers for 3 months. He didn’t have a great time there either. He returned back to his parent club in January this year and kept warming the bench for the remaining part of the season.

The Stoke City manager Tony Pulis is not in danger of being sacked according to the chairman of the club Peter Coates. Stoke City have been on an extremely poor run of form over the last few months, which has seen them take just one win in the last nine matches.

As a result, there has been talk of the Stoke City manager Tony Pulis leaving the club. Pulis is the only manager in top-flight to have not suffered a relegation with a club. The chairman has said that the team is clearly going through a bad run of form, but it is not something that will cost the manager his job.

The 2-1 win over Reading is the only league victory that the club has achieved in the 2013 calendar year. Despite this, they sit in the 11th position in the table due to several draws along the way. The chairman Coates has said that he is satisfied with the performance of his players. He has also recalled how the team performed in the second half against Fulham to back this claim. Pulis has been at Stoke City for seven years, and he has managed to get the club promoted and become an established Premier league team during this period.

“We are clearly having a bad run and not playing well but I think these are fine margins. We did enough in the second half at Fulham to get something out of the game and I didn’t think we deserved to lose against West Ham. If your team is not doing well, your crowd gets restive. It’s no different in Stoke than anywhere else. Our current squad is the best we’ve had and to me that represents progress. Tony has been here seven years and I think fair-minded Stoke supporters would think they were seven good years,” said Coates.