XHERDAN SHAQIRI believes Stoke's bid to gatecrash the Champions League depends on them displaying greater consistency.
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| Xherdan Shaqiri wants more consistency from Stoke if they're to push for the Champions League |
The Switzerland international scored one of the goals of the season in the 4-3 win over Everton on Monday which continued a series of eye-catching victories for Mark Hughes's side.
They have beaten Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United this term, but also lost to Sunderland and been beaten at the Britannia by West Brom and Crystal Palace.
"We are beating the big teams but we have to do it against the teams who we are expected to beat too," said Shaqiri, whose brace against Everton were his first goals for the club.
"The Premier League this season is so all over the place, some teams are really down and some are really up like Leicester. Anything can happen in this league.
"Maybe it is (our) mentality but also the smaller teams are good now, they have new players. Every game is tough in the Premier League.
"We must work like this, play good and at the end of the season we will see where we are. For us it is important to play as a team, we can win only as a team.
"If we can keep going like this anything can happen."
Shaqiri's instant clipped finish over Tim Howard following a 40-yard pass from Bojan to give Stoke a 2-1 lead was exceptional, but afterwards he downplayed the moment of genius. Yet it is clear he is benefiting from the chance to play every week that he did not have at either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich before that.
"The finish was really good," said Shaqiri. "I knew what I wanted to do when it came to me. I don't know if that is the best, I scored some nice goals in Switzerland, too. It was an important goal. It was really nice.
"For me it was important that I play every week with the Euros in the summer and to be at my top level for Switzerland. It is perfect. I had a conversation with the coach in the summer, we have top players and you see that on the pitch. "We are working very well at the moment and we are good at this moment."
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