Premier League: Hughes and Warnock still firmly under the microscope

Can Mark Hughes guide Stoke to a top 10 finish?

This week Andy Brassell discusses the fortunes of Crystal Palace and Stoke, and asks whether or not both clubs should be performing better under Neil Warnock and Mark Hughes respectively...

There was little warmth, and certainly few fireworks either. While the mutual antipathy between Mark Hughes and Neil Warnock was noticeable when Stoke City visited Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon, explosiveness was thin on the ground on the touchline, as on the pitch.

The stalemate was among the poorer games we'll see in the Premier League this season, with a goal each scored in the space of a minute and a half typical of a turgid affair. It underlined the continued difficulties faced by both managers in allowing a definitive judgement to be made on their work. Just where exactly are Hughes and Warnock right now?

Warnock's situation is a tricky and unenviable one. Parachuted back into Selhurst Park after Tony Pulis departed on the very eve of the season, he has been fighting a rearguard action. Now, with Palace having won just one of the last 10, some have even discussed whether the veteran should hold onto his job, or whether The Eagles should cut their losses.

While the recent win against Liverpool was memorable and showcased the quality that Warnock still has at his disposal, there is the growing fear that it will prove to be the exception rather than the rule. Certainly, Palace appear to have lost the bite and the parsimonious streak that characterised their extraordinary progress under Pulis.

Similarly to Pulis, the changes made by Hughes at Stoke since he replaced the Welshman in the Potteries have not gone unnoticed. Still, after a highly encouraging debut season, the question looms large of where he and his team might go next. It would be globally unfair to tar them with the brush of Saturday's underwhelming spectacle (the same could equally be said of Palace, of course) but it did resurrect a nagging feeling that Stoke are not hitting as hard as they should be this season.

They currently sit 12th, five points clear of the relegation places - which shouldn't even be a consideration given the strength of Hughes' squad - but seven shy of a European spot. The Palace game was symptomatic of a growing theme in their season; that of failing to capitalise on a laudable result.

Just as Stoke followed their win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane last month with a shock home defeat to Burnley, they showed little of the positivity in south London that had swept them to victory over Arsenal at the Britannia Stadium the week before.

Just as you feel Warnock is not extracting quite the level of performance from Pulis mainstays Marouane Chamakh and Jason Puncheon that his predecessor was able to, there is the sense that Hughes could be falling below his own standards in not being able to fully prime Marko Arnautovic, for example. Both men have questions to answer in terms of their teams' - and their own - directions.

Palace face another tough task at the weekend at Manchester City. The revival might have to wait until the turkey is finished; City are unsurprisingly short to win at 1.3130/100, though you can get 4.67/2 on a draw at half-time and City winning at full-time if Palace can show some of the old resilience.

More intriguing is Chelsea's visit to the Britannia. The draw is 4.1n/a and Stoke are priced at 6.411/2 to repeat their stunning late victory in the corresponding fixture last season.

Looking longer-term, you can still get 3.259/4 by laying Palace for Relegation, which they have the intrinsic quality to avoid with comfort.

Stoke, meanwhile, are decent value at 3.55n/a to finish in the top 10 again, especially if you think they'll grow into this campaign in a similar way to which they did last time out.