Emmanuel Adebayor a threat to Stoke, says Mark Hughes

Stoke boss Mark Hughes says Emmanuel Adebayor could be a real threat to his team in Saturday's FA Cup fourth round tie at Crystal Palace.

Hughes signed Adebayor from Arsenal when he was Manchester City boss, and rates him highly.

Palace signed the striker on a short-term deal on Tuesday, and he could make his debut at Selhurst Park against his former manager's team.

"He is a great player," Hughes said. "If you get him going and on fire, then he is a real handful.

"I had him at Man City. For whatever reason he seems to court a little bit of bad publicity about himself as a person and as a player, but I never really experienced it - I enjoyed working with him.

"I thought he was a good guy and played really well. He's a top player and a good acquisition for Palace."

Hughes is looking for a morale-boosting victory after his side went out of the Capital One Cup after an agonising semi-final penalty shoot-out at Liverpool.

This weekend's contest is the third of four straight away games for Hughes' men.

"It is a tough period we are in, with away games with very little respite," he said. "But we want to get positive results on the board, and we want to progress in the FA Cup.

"The disappointment of not getting to a Wembley final is still with us, so to progress in another competition that leads to Wembley would be a great tonic."

Hughes won the FA Cup four times - as well as plenty of other trophies - as a player, but is still searching for his first piece of silverware as a manager.

And although he is set to ring the changes to his side this weekend, he has stressed the importance of the selection still being "strong".

"It's a great competition and we want to stay in it," Hughes said.

"There's only so many competitions we can win and the FA Cup now is the only one realistically - so why wouldn't you have a go? We are certainly of that mind-set.

"It is a competition that was very good to me as a player and as a manager I'd love to have success in it."