Stoke striker Mama Sidibe has admitted to TEAMtalk's Insider Mark Holmes that he must work at his strike partnership with James Beattie.

Sidibe returned from a two-month injury lay-off against Portsmouth last weekend and he was thrown straight into the starting line-up alongside Beattie, who joined Stoke from Sheffield United in January.

Beattie has hit four goals in his first five games for the Potters but Sidibe reckons the two are similar players and that was evident against Pompey with the pair often chasing the same balls.

Sidibe should retain his place alongside at Aston Villa on Sunday and the Mali international admits one of them may need to make some adjustments to their game.

"Last weekend was good for me because it was important to play alongside Beattie, he said.

"I am happy to play with anybody but with Beattie we have the same type of game, being two target men, while Henri Camara is a quick player.

"Me and Beattie both flick a lot of balls on and that is good for a quick player like Camara. But if we play together we will have to change it a bit.

"It is not like I have a preferred partnership but I have played with Ricardo (Fuller) for a long time so I know him better than anyone.

"But Beattie has had a dream start and that is impressive because it is not easy to come to a new club and do good things straight away. I can learn a lot from him. He's a good goalscorer and that is important for us.

"He also has a good spirit and is very open, which is important."

Spirit is one thing Stoke have never lacked under Tony Pulis but that could have been jeapordised by the Welshman signing 14 new players since the club's promotion - including four in January.

However, Sidibe insists the camp remains as close as ever and he has welcomed the addition of more Premier League experience. He does, however, admit his side must win away soon and would love a repeat of his winning goal against Villa earlier this season.

He said: "We have many new players but the spirit is still the same as it always was. And I think we are a much stronger team now because we have more players who know about the Premier League and how to cope with it.

"To survive we need to win away," he said. We want to stay up because the Premier League because it's the best league in the world but we all know if we want to do that we have to do better away.

"We have drawn twice with Liverpool, we have beaten Aston Villa at home and we have done well against Chelsea and we have to believe we can get something at Villa on Sunday.

"They are a strong team with a good manager. They are not in with the top teams for nothing, they have great quality. They are close now to Chelsea and Liverpool.

"But we cannot go there thinking we have no chance. We know we can beat anyone at home but our survival depends on us picking up away points now.

"The game will give me good memories. I scored my first Premier League goal against them at the beginning of the season and that was Stoke's first win of the campaign," he added.

"That was a great occasion for us all and we want to do something like that again in the return, although I accept it will be tough against a very good Villa side.

"They're a good team, a strong team, they play good football, and it will not be an easy game. But we can't go there thinking about what they've got. They have some good players but we'll just go there and play our game."

Meanwhile Sidibe admits he found his injury lay-off tough, particularly as he had to watch his team-mates go seven league games without a win in his absence.

Sidibe revealed his knee is still not 100 per cent, but is confident he can build up his fitness enough to help the Potters to Premier League survival.

"Being out was really frustrating," he said, "because you want to be a part of the team helping your team-mates and watching the games is never easy.

"My knee is getting stronger, good enough to play, but it is not 100 per cent yet.

"It was my lack of fitness that was the problem last week after so long out. But the more games I get, the better I will be.

"I am just happy to be back and functioning the way I can. We need to get a few more wins, but I still believe we can survive this season."