Aston Villa 0 - Stoke City 1: Arnautovic a class act for Potters

Marko Arnautovic scored the winner for Stoke

THIS was Stoke City’s 5,000th competitive game.

And, thanks to their increasingly excellent Austrian ace Marko Arnautovic, the Potters celebrated that milestone with a crucial victory.

Three points at free-falling Aston Villa was no more than Mark Hughes’ men – and especially their 6ft 5in forward – deserved.

Arnautovic, 26, pounced after the break to grab his second goal of the campaign – and make it back-to-back wins for Stoke.

 

Undoubtedly capable of extreme brilliance, there had been way too many off days during his first two years on these shores.

But yesterday, Arnautovic, supported by the skills of impish Bojan Krkic, ran the opposition ragged.

In the 33rd minute the Potters’ dominance appeared to have been rewarded when Arnautovic hit the back of the net first time following Bojan’s superb cross.

It sparked celebrations from the away fans – only for a dodgy offside flag to rule out the effort.

Early in the second period pony-tailed Arnautovic was on the scoresheet…legitimately this time.

Stoke right-back Glen Johnson collected possession in acres of space in the 54th minute.

But that was nothing compared to the freedom Villa gifted to Arnautovic. Even though his initial control was poor, he still had enough time to flick in off the post.

A delighted Hughes said: “For a long time we pulled Marko’s leg about him only wanting to make assists rather than score himself.

“But now he is adding goals to his game too. He has a hunger to score.”

Villa boss Tim Sherwood admitted: “I’m the manager of this club and I take full responsibilities for our results. Where we are now is very disappointing.”

ASTON VILLA: Guzan; Hutton, Richards, Lescott (Grealish 45), Amavi; Veretout, Westwood (Gil 75), Gueye, Crespo; Gestede, Sinclair (Ayew 59).

STOKE CITY: Butland; Johnson, Cameron, Wollscheid, Pieters; Adam, Whelan, Walters, Krkic (Afellay 58), Arnautovic (Van Ginkel 69), Diouf (Joselu 86).

MAN of the Match: Marko Arnautovic – maybe a poor man’s version of Zlatan Ibrahimovic but that’s good enough for Stoke.

Ref: M Jones Att: 33,189