Mark Hughes believes two straight wins will assure Stoke a top-10 finish

Mark Hughes has urged Stoke to win their next two matches and virtually guarantee a top-10 finish.

Hull visit the Britannia Stadium on Saturday followed by Everton on Wednesday, and Hughes believes if Stoke take all six points on offer they will end the season in the top half of the Premier League table.

They head into the weekend four points clear of 11th-placed Newcastle - unlikely to trouble the European spots and clear of relegation strife - but Stoke boss Hughes insists there is still a tangible goal to play for.

"I think we can do that (guarantee a top-10 place) with two wins, certainly that will make the gap really difficult to overcome for the teams below," he said.

"That can help us because we want to get as high as we can. It's our priority, something we've talked about since the start of the season and it's still very much on for us if we win the games we know we're capable of."

Hull have taken seven points from their last three games to catapult themselves out of the bottom three, but Hughes does not expect his men to be outdone in terms of self-belief when the teams meet.

"There's been a couple of good results for Hull, but they needed them... they were on a terrible run in fairness," he added.

"They've been able to pick up points from the teams around them, which is important in their situation and winning breeds confidence so they'll be better mentally than they were three or four weeks ago.

"But we're in good nick ourselves and they won't be looking forward to coming here and matching themselves up against us."

Hughes also confirmed that negotiations over a contract extension were heading in the right direction.

"It's progressing well, there's will on both sides to get it done," he said. "It's a club that's still going places and we've got a lot to achieve here. The next few years can be really exciting."