- Arnautovic bags winner in 2nd half
- No win in 7 for Villa
- Stoke’s third-straight win at Villa
- Back-to-back win for Potters
Stoke City beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park on Saturday, with Marko Arnautovic’s second half goal enough to hand Mark Hughes’ side the win against Tim Sherwood’s lackluster outfit.
The Potters looked like the more dangerous team throughout and got the winner they deserved less than 10 minutes into the second half as Arnautovic finished coolly.
With the win Stoke moved up to 14th on nine points, while Villa remain winless in seven and are one point off the bottom.
After 17 minutes U.S. national team goalkeeper Brad Guzan pulled off a stunning save from Charlie Adam, as the Scottish international midfielder once again tried one of his trademark long-range efforts but a back-peddling Guzan managed to top his effort over the bar. Sensational play all around.
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In the 35th minute Stoke thought they had gone ahead as Arnautovic poked home Bojan’s superb cross from the right from close range. However, as the Austrian wheeled away to celebrate the linesman raised his flag for offside. On second viewing Arnautovic was level and Stoke were unlucky to not be ahead at the break, while at the other end U.S. international Geoff Cameron made a perfectly timed tackle on Jordan Veretout as the Villa man closed in on goal.
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Stoke did get their just rewards in the second half and it was Arnautovic who deservedly put them 1-0 up.
Glen Johnson surged forward from right back and found a with a precise pass found a wide-open Arnautovic in the box. The Austrian controlled calmly before slotting past Guzan and wheeling away to the Stoke fans to celebrate.
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That goal sparked Villa into life as they threw everything at Stoke but the Potters held firm with Jack Butland marshaling the backline to their first shutout of the season.
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Late on substitute Joselu got a shot in on goal as Stoke made it two straights wins heading into the international break.