Goals:
1-0: Allen (8, headed Arnautovic’s centre down and beyond Pickford from close range as Djilobodji was slow to react)
2-0: Allen (45, fine low strike inside Pickford’s bottom left after a corner was only half cleared to him)
Bookings: Arnautovic (55, foul); Jones (90, foul)
Referee: Mike Jones (Chester) – waved away a couple of penalty appeals but he was in control throughout. 8
Attendance: 27,701
Entertainment: **
STOKE CITY (4-2-3-1): Grant 6; Bardsley 6 (Adam 65, 6), Shawcross 6, Martins Indi 7, Pieters 6; Cameron 6, Whelan 6; Shaqiri 7, ALLEN 8 (Muniesa 75), Arnautovic 8; Bony 6 (Walters 75). Subs: Given (gk), Diouf, Crouch, Bojan.
SUNDERLAND (4-3-2-1):
7 PICKFORD: Beaten by two goals he would always struggle to save and made a number of other stops;
4 Manquillo: Yet to really show why he has been signed and needs to be more purposeful
6 Djilobodji: One of his better afternoons with a couple of fine blocks, although he should have tried harder to block Allen’s first
6 O’Shea: Helped Djilobodji along with his experience even if it was never a day for any Sunderland player
4 van Aanholt: Found it hard to track Shaqiri and then a poor afternoon ended early through injury;
4 McNair: Hardly influenced things in the middle and Sunderland need more from him
4 Rodwell: Needed to impose himself more on the game because he has a chance to hold down a place
4 Ndong: Nowhere near as effective as he has been in previous outings and was guilty of giving away possession in build up to both goals;
6 Khazri: Was the man most involved in the play going forward but wasted some good positions
5 Watmore: Ran around a lot again but didn’t pose enough of a threat to the Stoke defence;
5 Defoe: Will be annoyed not to have scored in the first half but was frustrated not to be picked out a number of times.
Subs:
Jones (for van Aanholt 45): Battled away to try to contain the Stoke forwards. 5
Pienaar (for Manquillo 56): Went on to the pitch but didn’t really make an impact. 5
Anichebe (for Rodwell 80) Subs: Mika (gk), Jones, Love, Asoro, Gooch.
MAN OF THE MATCH: JOE Allen – the little midfielder is going from strength to strength and took his goals brilliantly to frustrate Sunderland.
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