Soccer: Stoke need more luck to survive relegation scrap, says Lambert

(Reuters) - Stoke City have the talent to challenge their Premier League rivals but need a change in luck to win more matches and survive the relegation battle, manager Paul Lambert has said.

Lambert, who took over from Mark Hughes last month, has led Stoke to three draws, a win and a loss in their last five league matches, helping the 19th-placed team climb to within a point of safety with 10 games left in the campaign.

An own goal by goalkeeper Jack Butland led Stoke to a 1-1 draw at Leicester City last Saturday and Lambert said his team needed a little good fortune.

"Since we came in we've only won one game but we've always been in games, which is important for us, to compete. We need a bit of a break... but if we keep playing the way we are then we'll certainly climb the table," Lambert told British media.

"The good thing for me is we are playing ever so well. We've only been beaten once since I came in and we've had some really hard games.

"Performance-wise we can match anyone in the division and with a little bit of a break we will certainly win games. Anybody coming to our games in the last few weeks would see Stoke City as a good side."

Stoke have the opportunity to climb out of the relegation zone when they travel to 16th-placed Southampton in the league on Saturday.

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)