Swansea City and Stoke City will play their ninth game of the Premier League season at Liberty Stadium on Monday, 19th October. Technically good, strong and with pace, it’s taken time for Arnautovic to settle since his move from German side Werder Bremen in 2013, but when you have a forward in form you should look to take advantage and at a shade over 5/1 he gets my vote.
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The hosts thought they were level just before the hour mark when Shelvey showed great strength to get past Philipp Wollscheid and fired under Butland from a tight angle, only to be denied when his shot hit the inside of the post and bounced out.
Stoke, meanwhile, have not won consecutive Premier League away games since December 2011.
The Spaniard went past two Swansea players before he was brought down by Swans captain Ashley Williams in the area.
In stark contrast, Swansea have now gone six matches without a win since their impressive success against Manchester United. 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.
“The ball went under his foot and he had to try and retrieve it. It was probably a centre-half’s tackle rather than a goalkeeper’s tackle, but thankfully he got the ball first and was able to stop anything developing”, Hughes said.
Swansea were lacking in any fluency and it took them until the 17th minute to threaten the Stoke goal as Bafétimbi Gomis headed Jack Cork’s lofted pass wide, while there was a lucky escape for Jack Butland.
The former Spanish under-21 worldwide was signed for £5.75 million this summer from Hannover and is still waiting his first goal for Stoke, after a sole start and four substitute appearances across all competitions.
Garry Monk is certain that a response will arrive from his Swansea City players following their 1-0 loss to Stoke City.
There would be every right for home supporters to feel frustrated by Madley’s refusal to get a grip with the Potters’ fouling by rotation let alone ignore Butland’s showing of his studs to Andre Ayew when he had miscontrolled a back pass.
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One of the big decisions facing manager Mark Hughes is who should lead his line, with Mame Biram Diouf still back in Senegal on compassionate leave following the death of his mother.
