Hard work key - Hugo

Hugo Lloris pointed to the team's work ethic after our hard-fought 1-0 win at Stoke.

The goalkeeper was delighted to register a clean sheet - our 13th in the Premier League - and his stats of having to make three saves from Stoke’s 17 efforts at goal, seven on target, say a lot of about the defensive display in front of him.

“We expected a tough game and that was the case,” said Hugo. “We were strong and had good chances to score. We deserved to score one or two more but it’s okay, 1-0 is a great result for us.

“We all worked hard for each other and when that’s the case, it’s difficult to beat us.”

Stoke found inspiration following the dismissal of Ryan Shawcross in the 51st minute.

“It’s strange, we had the feeling that it was more difficult 10 against 11 than it was 11 against 11,” considered the French national skipper. “Stoke started to play with a desire with the crowd behind them but we stayed strong.

“We have two more games now and hope to get six points more.”