Stoke City vs Sunderland. Premier League.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance27,701.
Saturday 15 October 2016 19:51, UK
A Joe Allen double helped Stoke to their first Premier League win of the season as they saw off Sunderland 2-0 on Saturday.
The midfielder - a doubt before the game after picking up an injury on international duty with Wales - headed home from a great Marko Arnartovic cross just eight minutes in and added another in first-half injury time, firing home from the edge of the box.
Sunderland offered little in response, and remain bottom of the Premier League table with two points while Stoke climb one place to 18th.
The hosts were ahead inside eight minutes with Allen's first of the afternoon. It was a delightful initial ball from Xherdan Shaqiri to find Arnautovic, who picked the Welshman out in the box for his fifth goal in four games for club and country.
Jermain Defoe went closest for the visitors in their limited first-half openings, with Ryan Shawcross getting ahead of him in the 17th minute to clear a Wahbi Khazri cross before the former England striker wriggled into space nine minutes later - but could only fire over the crossbar.
The Potters looked the more likely to add a second before the break, with Wilfried Bony turning away from Papy Djilbodji before firing past the post before the impressive Arnautovic poked a great cross from the Ivory Coast striker just out of play while one-on-one with Jordan Pickford.
But it was Allen who extended the lead with his second in the first minute of added time at the end of the first half, collecting a Shawcross header at the top of the box and hitting hard and low through a crowd and into the back of the net.
Stoke could have had a third seven minutes into the second half as Pickford was forced into a fine save from Bony after a great cut-back from Erik Pieters, before Djilbodji blocked the follow up from Allen at close range to deny him his hat-trick.
Bony was again a spearhead in attack two minutes later as he got away from his defender, but took his shot too early and it flew over the bar.
There were a few glimpses from Sunderland although they rarely threatened with Shawcross again keeping Defoe at bay from a Duncan Watmore cross before the youngster raced forward on the break but hit high and wide.
Stoke thought they had sealed the third goal in the 68th minute as substitute Charlie Adam dug the ball into the path of Arnautovic who fired home, but the offside flag was correctly raised to see the goal ruled out much to the dismay of the Austrian.
Adam was involved again 10 minutes later when he picked up the ball in the middle of the park and went on a little run before firing towards goal, but it smashed the upright.
The remainder of the game passed without much incident, Stoke deserving their first three points of the season while the wait goes on for Sunderland.
Player ratings
Stoke: Grant (6), Bardsley (6), Shawcross (7), Martins Indi (7), Pieters (7), Cameron (7), Whelan (6), Shaqiri (8), Allen (8), Arnautovic (9), Bony (7).
Subs used: Adam (7), Walters (6), Muniesa (5).
Sunderland: Pickford (7), Manquillo (6), O'Shea (6), Djilobodji (7), Van Aanholt (6), Watmore (7), Rodwell (5), Ndong (5), McNair (6), Khazri (8), Defoe (7).
Subs used: Pienaar (6), Jones (6), Anichebe (5).
Man of the match: Marko Arnautovic
