Stoke City’s Erik Pieters on training in Dubai and targeting a top 10 finish

The 28-year-old is in Dubai this week as part of Mark Hughes’ warm weather training camp in the UAE.

Despite the sandy conditions over the past few days, Pieters said he’s enjoying the training and the bonding time away with the team.

“It’s been good, only the weather is not that nice. Training’s been good and it’s always good to be away with the team,” Pieters told Sport360 at the Jebel Ali Shooting Club.

“We did a couple of movements on the first day. Today we did a bit of a conditioning session, some cross training and then ended with a game.”

Since the turn of the year, Stoke have only lost once in their last six league games – a 1-0 defeat to West Brom at the start of February.

Currently ninth – level on points with West Ham – Pieters hopes the Dubai trip will inspire his players towards a top-10 finish or higher ahead of the run in.

“I think we need to just continue with what we’ve been doing. We had a couple of good games that toughened ourselves and believed in ourselves… We must aim for a top 10 or higher at the end of the season.”

Stoke will return to Premier League action on Sunday when they travel to London to face Tottenham Hotspur.