Stoke City dominated a disjointed Tottenham Hotspur, earning a 3-0 win on Saturday at the Britannia Stadium.
Steven Nzonzi, Mame Biram Diouf and Charlie Adam all scored for the Potters, who had a 2-0 lead before Spurs defender Vlad Chiriches was given a red card.
Tottenham Hotspur failed in its quest to put pressure on fifth-place Liverpool, but remain in sixth thanks to Southampton’s loss to Leicester City.
Stoke moves up to ninth, three points back of No. 8 Swansea and three ahead of No. 10 West Ham.
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Stoke got on the board first when Adam was Johnny on the spot. Diouf sent a cross across the 18 and Jan Vertonghen’s headed clearance went right to Adam’s noggin.
And it wasn’t long before Nzonzi made it 2-0 by virtue or a side-footed shot over the Hugo Lloris in the 32nd minute.
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Vlad Chiriches started for Spurs instead of speculated starter DeAndre Yedlin, and that cost Spurs a bit when the Romanian was sent off for a series of fouls on Diouf.
A constant pest, Diouf got his deserved goal in the 86th minute when he redirected a ball to wrong-foot Lloris and make it 3-0.
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LINEUPS
Stoke City: Butland; Pieters, Muniesa, Shawcross, Cameron; Whelan (Sidwell, 88'), Nzonzi; Arnautovic, Adam (Ireland, 73'), Walters (Odemwingie, 84'); Diouf.
Goal: Adam (21'), Nzonzi (32'), Diouf (86')
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris (C); Dier, Chiriches (RC, 50'), Fazio, Vertonghen; Bentaleb, Mason; Lamela (Dembele, 76'), Eriksen, Chadli (Soldado, 61'); Kane.