Robert Snodgrass insists the only way to silence the critics is to match the levels of their first Premier League away win of the season at Stoke.

The Scottish midfielder knows Chris Hughton's squad can ill afford to let their standards drop with Chelsea and Arsenal to come either side of the international break.

Snodgrass was denied his first Premier League goal of the season when Stoke's Asmir Begovic went full length to claw out his late curling effort in a battling display at the Britannia Stadium.

'With performances like that, I don't know how anyone can criticise us. We went to Stoke and won, which not a lot of teams will do,' he said. 'The fans are right behind the manager - they're a different class here.

'They felt frustrated that we had so many chances against Aston Villa the previous week and didn't take them, but there's no better way to put things right than to roll your sleeves up and pull off a result like that. He has spent maybe £27million on players and the manager will tell you himself that there is an added pressure when you have a bigger kitty to spend.'

City have bounced back strongly from defeats to Tottenham and Aston Villa with victory over Stoke coming after a stirring Capital One Cup fightback to sink Watford in extra-time. Snodgrass sat out the cup win at Vicarage Road but the former Leeds midfielder insists City's collective resolve should never be in doubt.

'We're in the Premier League and there's pressure,' he said. 'I'll be honest and say that if you can't handle that pressure, there's no point in being here. In your job, every day, you put pressure on yourself. Even on the training ground, we're putting pressure on ourselves to get better and to work on our weaknesses. The manager puts that pressure on us - and the fans put the pressure on the players and the manager. It's not just the manager. We're all in it together.'