Swansea City 0 Stoke City 1
It was a night for Ashley Williams and Swansea City to forget as their captain conceded the early penalty that deepened the sense of frustration enveloping these parts and allowed Stoke, courtesy of Bojan Krkic’s expertly-taken spot-kick, to continue their climb up the Premier League table.
Without a win in six league and cup matches – a run that stretches back to when Manchester United were beaten here 2-1 – Swansea are slipping in the opposite direction and their bright start to the season already feels like a distant memory. Garry Monk’s team were strangely subdued for long periods and although there was an improvement of sorts after the interval, when Jonjo Shelvey was desperately unlucky to see his low shot bounce off the inside of the post, it was a poor Swansea performance and impossible to ignore the glaring absence of a cutting edge in front of goal.
Stoke, on the other hand, will take encouragement from the way that they nullified Swansea as an attacking force, with the visitors rarely looking troubled from the moment Krkic struck. Mark Hughes’ side are now unbeaten in five matches and for the first time since December 2011 have won consecutive league games away from home.
Monk had urged his international players to put any Euro 2016 celebrations “to bed” in the lead-up to the game, but at times Williams looked a man still suffering from a hangover. The Wales captain endured a torrid first half and by the time the interval arrived was also on a yellow card after being punished for leading with his arm in an aerial challenge with Joselu.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the booking – Monk complained bitterly on the touchline – there could be no argument with the referee Robert Madley’s decision to award the early penalty. Krkic had been allowed to run from deep and after gliding around Federico Fernández, Stoke’s playmaker bamboozled Williams, who ended up making a clumsy challenge from behind.
Sending Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way from the spot, Krkic dispatched his penalty with the minimum of fuss and Stoke were on their way. For the remainder of the first half the home team’s passing was careless and their goal threat negligible – a wayward free header from Bafétimbi Gomis was as much as they could muster – and had Glen Johnson showed more composure the damage could have been worse. Exchanging passes with Xherdan Shaqiri on the Stoke right, Johnson’s darting run went untracked by Jefferson Montero but the former England international dragged his angled shot across the face of goal.
Stoke looked reasonably comfortable and the only moment of genuine concern for the visitors in the opening 45 minutes was of their own doing. Standing on the edge of his area Jack Butland got caught in two minds with the ball at his feet and ended up in a terrible tangle. After inadvertently nudging the ball forward he almost gifted possession to André Ayew, and in a desperate attempt to recover the situation made a lunge with his studs up. He got the ball but Swansea’s fans were incensed and on another day the officials may not have taken such a lenient view.
Good fortune was smiling on Butland for different reasons early in the second half. Running onto a clever flick from Ayew, Shelvey brushed off the challenge of Philipp Wollscheid, cut into the area and thumped a low shot that went through Butland’s legs and cannoned back off the far upright.
Swansea were finally playing with a bit of belief, yet Marko Arnautovic, running onto a pitching wedge pass from Shaqiri, came close to adding a second when he lobbed narrowly wide. Desperate to turn the game round, Monk had introduced Ki Sung-yueng and Gylfi Sigurdsson from the bench moments earlier, and the latter drew gasps with a thumping 30-yard shot that flashed past the post.
