The Swans visit the Bet 365 Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, a ground where they have managed only one victory in the past 14 visits, in fine spirits of making it three league wins in a row for the first time this season.
Having won once in 11 matches in all competitions, Matos’ side halted a five-game Championship losing streak by beating Oxford last weekend, and they backed up that success by beating Portsmouth in midweek to move six points away from the drop zone.
Matos’ team now face a sterner challenge as they take on a Potters side eyeing a return to the Premier League, having flirted with the automatic promotion places in the first quarter of the season.
Three defeats in a row have dropped Mark Robins’ team to eighth place in the table, but Matos is fully aware of the strength that Stoke possess in their side.
“Stoke is a brilliant team, for me one of the best teams of the league in terms of the way they play,” said Matos in his pre-match conference.
“They defend really well – they want to press; they have a clear idea how to do it. They attack really well in different ways. Sometimes with three, with [Aaron] Cresswell deep, sometimes using [Eric] Bocat in a different way, so they have a lot of variability.
“It’s a team that can create different kinds of problems with different players as well, and so we’ll need to be at our maximum concentration and perform to compete.
“That’s what we’re going to try, and it will not be for sure an easy place to go but we are really looking forward because it will be a brilliant game for us as well.
“It’s up to us to have a proper football game to compete and to show as well that we are here for a reason.
“Winning is good, and it creates a good spirit, but we know that we need to improve. We won two games in a row, but that doesn’t mean anything. We have to keep improving.”
The Swans boss says he has no new injuries ahead of the clash with a fully fit squad at his disposal.
The trip to face the play-off chasing Potters begins the lead up to a busy festive season of fixtures for the club with Swansea hosting Wrexham next Friday evening.
They then have a further week between matches, before a trip to Coventry City on Boxing Day starts a run of four league fixtures in just nine days a time where Matos will look to use his whole squad.
“There will be a lot of games, but after the Stoke game we will have a little bit more time,” he added.
“[Then it is the] Wrexham game, then we will have a little bit more time.
“So, these two weeks will be important for us in terms of development, because we will have a game per week and then we go into the really busy schedule and that will be decisive for everything I would say.”
[Lead image: Swansea City FC]
