POTTERS NOT YET ON TRAC SAYS LAMBERT

PAUL LAMBERT returns to Stoke today admitting he is surprised they are not higher in the table.

Lambert was fired in May after failing to keep City in the Premier League following his January appointment.

Now he has another tough survival challenge – at Championship basement club Ipswich. The Potters are 12th but Lambert, who takes his Tractor Boys to the bet365 today, expected them to be doing better under his successor Gary Rowett.

“They did well to keep a lot of the lads who played in the Premier League for a long time,” he said. “The squad they have, how strong it is, maybe they should be higher. Stoke still might get in that top two but I think they probably thought they would be up there already.”