Stoke have been thrashed 4-0 at home by Spurs in each of the last two meetings between the clubs.
The most recent came in September during a sequence in which Hughes’ team failed to win any of their opening seven Premier League games of the season, losing four of them.
They head into this weekend’s clash at White Hart Lane with their previous six league matches having featured three victories – including a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace last time out – and only one defeat.
And Hughes said: “We have improved markedly since that game (in September).
“I would be very surprised if the result was the same – although there is a possibility, because they are a good side.
“But we’ll have to make sure we play well to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“I would imagine if we start brightly, then that is the key to it. Hopefully we’ll be nice and bright, sharp and ready to go.”
Stoke may well take encouragement from their recent record at Tottenham, which shows a 2-2 draw from early last term and a 2-1 victory on their visit in 2014-15.
“We had a good performance and result there last season and we need more of the same,” Hughes added.
Spurs crashed to a 3-2 aggregate defeat to the Belgian side on Thursday as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Wembley, which saw midfielder Dele Alli sent off in the first half for a horror tackle on Brecht Dejaegere.
The bad news for Stoke is that they aren’t playing us at Wembley.
A reader sent this in earlier and I see no harm in passing it on to you.
Do ENIC listen to fans?
Who knows. But Wembley is a fakin stoopid idea as our 1 win in 8 games conclusively proves.
