After successive defeats for the first time this season, Ray Wilkins has been putting things in perspective.

We've drawn criticism in the last week, particularly after the defeat to Manchester City at Stamford Bridge last Saturday, but the assistant manager is keen for people to look at the bigger picture, at a team top of the Premier League, in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and still in the Champions League.

'We are in the first week in March, and 19 other Premiership sides would sooner be in our position than theirs,' Wilkins said. 'That's where we are, top of the Premiership playing in the quarter-final of the FA Cup and very pleased with the situation in which we find ourselves.

'We're not having a dip in form. Results haven't quite gone the way we'd have liked. We've just lost a little bit of concentration at certain times and will rectify that this week,' he continued.

'We're happy with the way we've played but not the goals we've conceded. We've created a number of chances, that on another day we would have scored, but we have scored a number of goals and there aren't too many clubs that have scored as many as us, so from that aspect we're happy with the way things are going.'

Next up is Stoke in the Cup tomorrow and Wilkins knows the side will have to be on its mettle to be in the draw for the semis, a repeat of some of the mistakes against City will not be tolerated. As such he does not expect a rotation in selection from Carlo Ancelotti.

'If you make errors you will lose goals, it's as simple as that, and we have to be extremely concentrated in what we do. We'll play a lot worse than that [this season] and win,' he said.

'We hold this competition in such great esteem that we want to be there in the final so I am sure we will select the best possible team we can to play on Sunday.'