Marko Arnautovic penetrated Joe Hart’s goal twice at the Britannia Stadium to give his team the victory over Manuel Pellegrini’s side with help from Xherdan Shaqiri who stole the show.
‘Alpine Messi’ dominates title contenders
Stoke City’s attacking Midfielder, Shaqiri, has been dubbed the ‘Alpine Messi’, and from this game it’s easy to see why. His creative vision and aggressive forward play troubled the shaky Manchester City defence all game, gifting Arnautovic his two goals for the Potters.
His constant pressuring on and off the ball set the scene for how Stoke City were going to play the game in a commanding and oppressive style. His instrumental control of the game allowed Austrian forward Arnautovic two quick-fire goals. The first from a beautifully weighted cross and the second, a perfect through goal ball which provided Stoke with the pivotal three points to see themselves move into 10th place on 22 points in the Premier League, alongside Crystal Palace and Watford.
Switched Roles and Injury Troubles
Throughout the majority of this game, it was as if the two teams had switched their own styles of play. Stoke, who had up until this game, remained a relatively passive side. Whereas in contrast City have a notorious reputation for constant pressure in attacking.
This game seemed to switch the two sides’ traits as Stoke always looked a menace attacking from all angles and City just could not harness their attacking potential and looked on the backfoot for the majority of the game, only amassing four shots on target.
Stoke now have kept six clean sheets in their last eight Premier League games and this recent game means that Mark Hughes’s side have only lost just one game out of eight at home to Manchester City.
The Sky Blues were obviously lacking their star players and their performance away at Stoke on Saturday proved this. Without Vincent Kompany, their defence lacked a leader as Stokes attacking trio of Ibrahim Afellay, Arnautovic and Shaqiri plagued them for the entire game. Up front, City were missing the talents of Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure ensuring that the Blues have failed to score in their last three on the road for the first time since April 2009.
Hughes delighted and Shaquiri confident
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has labelled his team as fantastic “front to back” as they provided a real test for title contenders Manchester City. He went on to comment that “to a man they were excellent” as they pleased the home faithful at the Britannia due to their oppressing and mesmerising football, illustrating that the players “worked exceptionally hard”.
The team were left in high spirits after their dominant win - which moves them amongst the top half of the table after 15 games - as the “dressing room was ecstatic” thanks for the most part due to their performance and victory in which the Potter’s “were on the front foot” and “unsettled City”.
Shaqiri, similarly, was ecstatic about the result labelling it an “important win” and believes that Stoke could “beat any opponent”.
Judging from this performance, Stoke have made a leering statement in the Premier League as the Britannia is quickly transforming back into a Fortress at the helm of Hughes who has transformed the club into a competitive side that is challenging the best the league can offer.