Mark Hughes is urging Stoke to cling on to the coat-tails of the top six and he targets a best Premier League finish for the club.
Saturday's 3-1 victory at Sunderland left the Potters in ninth place on 27 points and while Hughes believes ultimately they should be challenging for European qualification, he will remain patient.
He said: "At some point in the future, we want to be hopefully qualifying by league position for Europe, but this year clearly that's going to be very, very difficult.
"The top six are going to be too far away for the rest of us to challenge for those positions, but clearly from seventh down, there's an opportunity and we are always trying to achieve things and do things that haven't been done in the Premier League for Stoke City.