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Marko Arnautovic puts Stoke City 2-0 up against Sunderland with his second goal of the match.
Marko Arnautovic puts Stoke City 2-0 up against Sunderland with his second goal of the match. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters
Marko Arnautovic puts Stoke City 2-0 up against Sunderland with his second goal of the match. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters

Marko Arnautovic hits double for Stoke to pile pressure on Sunderland

This article is more than 7 years old

As Jermain Defoe raised his eyes to the stands at the final whistle he was greeted by a sea of long since emptied seats. With the remaining Sunderland fans directing gentle boos and rather resigned shouts of “rubbish” towards the pitch, David Moyes’s star striker could have been forgiven for hankering after a return to West Ham before the end of the month.

This latest surrender was not remotely Defoe’s fault – indeed his goal, scored when Stoke were three up, provoked sufficient uncertainty among Mark Hughes’s defence to almost certainly spare the Wearsiders real humiliation – but the forward’s unusually downcast body language seemed indicative of a man losing faith in Sunderland’s ability to win their latest relegation fight.

Moyes said: “We made three poor mistakes for the goals and we never got going. The damage was done and we got severely punished.”

Sunderland were unbeaten in their previous 14 league games against Stoke here but, right from the start, Hughes’s players appeared minded to change that narrative, with Marko Arnautovic, Peter Crouch and Xherdan Shaqiri in particularly incisive mood. Accordingly, it was not long before Shaqiri’s long through pass found Arnautovic unattended on the left. Seizing this invitation, the Austrian unleashed a shot that Vito Mannone repelled with a leg, only for the rebound to return straight back to Arnautovic who lashed a stunning shot into the roof of the net.

Sunderland were in alarmingly slapdash mode, often conceding possession cheaply, and they were suitably punished as Arnautovic swiftly doubled Stoke’s advantage. That second goal began with some excellent one-touch stuff from the visitors, featuring deft one-twos between first Arnautovic and Shaqiri and then the Austrian and the excellent Crouch. It concluded with Arnautovic curling an assured left-foot shot beyond the advancing Mannone. “One of the better goals I’ve been involved in,” said an approving Hughes.

His side were thoroughly shaking the previous weekend’s FA Cup defeat against Wolves out of their system while subjecting Moyes – slumped in his dug-out seat with arms folded and expression impassively grim – to unrelenting misery.

Goal No3 beckoned when Shaqiri’s vicious low shot from distance looked to have confounded Mannone but the Italian, shaky throughout, somehow fumbled the ball on to a post after it had squirmed beneath him. This proved merely a temporary reprieve as, shortly afterwards, Charlie Adam’s fine cross exposed negligent marking while creating a deserved goal for the unmarked Crouch who, with the panicking Mannone off his line, headed Stoke’s third.

With 11 minutes left before half-time hundreds of fans stood up and started streaming towards the exits. Undeterred by the sudden rash of empty red plastic seats, Defoe succeeded in altering the mood a little by scoring his 12th goal of the season.

Connecting with Donald Love’s long ball, the former England forward found himself onside and one on one against Lee Grant. There was only one winner, Defoe’s subtly curving right-foot shot crashing in off a post – Moyes probably dares not even contemplate where he would be without a striker much coveted by Slaven Bilic.

If Defoe’s work was destined to be undone by Papy Djilobodji – subsequently fortunate to collect a yellow rather than a red card following a wince-inducing late challenge on Arnautovic – and his tendency to freeze in the face of Crouch’s advances, his side at least stemmed the second-half tide.

Yet although Grant repelled Fabio Borini’s shot and Jack Rodwell missed a good chance, this mini home renaissance was largely down to Stoke sitting deep and ceding possession as they saw the game out.

“I’m very satisfied,” said Hughes. “The first 35 minutes was the best we’ve played away all season. We made sure it was always going to be difficult for Sunderland.”

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