Stoke City 2-1 Southampton: Match report
A late Peter Crouch goal gave Stoke a 2-1 victory against Southampton at the Bet365 Stadium.
Mauricio Pellegrino made one change to the side that suffered an unfortunate defeat against Manchester United. Virgil van Dijk was brought in to replace his compatriot Wesley Hoedt. Meanwhile, Mark Hughes made four changes to the side that was well beaten by Chelsea. Kurt Zouma, Geoff Cameron, Kevin Wimmer and Saido Berahino in for Jesé, Bruno Martins Indi, Glen Johnson and Ramadan Sobhi.
Chances fell to players on both sides. Xherdan Shaqiri skillfully dealt with Maya Yoshida, although the shot was comfortably saved by Fraser Forster, who has been called up to the England squad once again. It was then Southampton who had an attempt on goal after a set piece. The ball bounced around in the penalty area before Oriol Romeu somehow found Shane Long in open space, but his shot was well saved by Jack Butland.
It was Stoke who made the breakthrough minutes before half time. A set-piece delivered by Shaqiri was powerfully met by Mame Biram Diouf, although the area seemed to be well covered by Saints players, the ball made its way through.
Proceedings could’ve gone from bad to worse for the Saints after van Dijk conceded a penalty by bringing down Berahino. The Englishman hadn’t scored since September 2015, let alone since he signed for Stoke stepped up to take the penalty, which was well-saved by Forster.
The second half was dominated by Saints both with the ball and in chances. Inevitably, Southampton found an equaliser after 75 minutes, a cross from substitute Sofiane Boufal was flicked by Long into the path of Yoshida who scored with a sensational bicycle kick past a helpless Jack Butland.
Despite Southampton’s dominance, it was Stoke who found a winner five minutes before the 90th-minute mark and it was former Saint Crouch who scored it. Maxim Choupo-Moting had an initial effort saved by Forster yet Choupo-Moting managed to cause problems by kicking the ball from the floor and Crouch managed to steer the ball beyond Yoshida who was stood on the line.
Southampton, as they have done before decided to play well when they had nothing to lose. Chances fell to Manolo Gabbiadini and Charlie Austin but Stoke’s rock at the back Zouma managed to deal with everything and anything.
Saints face Newcastle next at home and surely if Saints don’t get a result, Pellegrino will be under pressure and could potentially face the sack as Saints currently sit three points from relegation. Worrying times on the South Coast.