Stoke City defeated Aston Villa 1-0 on Saturday to get their flailing season back on track.

The Potters have now won two matches on the trot and are unbeaten in three to move up to 14th on the table courtesy of Marko Arnautovic's 55th-minute goal at Villa Park.

The deciding moment in the contest came 10 minutes into the second half when Glen Johnson slipped a through ball into the path of Arnautovic, allowing the Austrian to slot beyond Brad Guzan and in off the near post.

Villa's loss heaped more pressure on manager Tim Sherwood as his side fell into the bottom three having saluted just once in eight outings so far this term while Mark Hughes' men have the top half in their sights.

MATCH OVERVIEW

Aston Villa: 0
Stoke City: 1 (Marko Arnautovic 55')
Villa Park, Birmingham - 33,189

TALKING POINTS

- Four losses in a row for Villa. Where they can conjure a win from? Are they good enough to steer clear of another relegation battle?

- Stoke are finally starting to click. Will we see a strong run from the Potters as they chase a third-straight top-10 finish?


WHAT'S NEXT?

Villa have the daunting task of taking on a wounded Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on October 17 as Stoke look to extend their winning run to three when they head to Swansea City on Monday, October 19.


TWITTER INSIGHT

2nd win in a row in the @PremierLeague! Congrats to everyone involved & to the goalscorer Marko! #Potters#SCFCpic.twitter.com/U7bDTH4z4F
— Bojan Krkic (@BoKrkic) October 3, 2015

great to finally get that clean sheet and go into the international break on the back of two straight wins! #SCFC
— Jack Butland (@JackButland_One) October 3, 2015




QUOTES CORNER

Villa boss Sherwood on the poor results his side are experiencing:

“You can't persevere with a team who haven't won. You have to keep jigging it around to find a solution and at the moment I haven't done that.

"I am the manager and I have to take responsibility for the performance and the result. That's my job and I understand that fully."

Stoke's Hughes on the influence of match-winner Arnautovic:

"It's a great thing because it's something he needs to add to his game and if he can get that he is going to be a real influential player. It's been said he only comes alive in the second half of the season which is a little unfair on him. He has started this season really strongly."




TEAM LEADERS

ASTON VILLA
Goals - Rudy Gestede 3
Assists - Jordan Amavi 2
Clean sheets - Brad Guzan 1
Yellow cards - Ciaran Clark 3

STOKE
Goals - Mame Biram Diouf 3
Assists - Marko Arnautovic, Glen Johnson 2
Clean sheets - Jack Butland 1
Yellow cards - Glenn Whelan, Erik Pieters 2
Red cards - Ibrahim Afellay, Charlie Adam 1