Marko Arnautovic notched a brace for stoke City as the Potters secured a surprise 2-0 victory over Manchester City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Arnautovic finished off a pinpoint cross from Xherdan Shaqiri to put the home side ahead after seven minutes.
Just eight minutes later, the Austrian striker doubled Stoke's lead, with Shaqiri again the provider with a perfectly weighted through ball.
Stoke shot-stopper Jack Butland ensured the Potters maintained their two-goal cushion with impressive saves denying Kevin de Bruyne and Aleksandar Kolarov.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Stoke City: 2 (Marko Arnautovic 7'/15')
Manchester City: 0
Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent – 27,264
TALKING POINTS
Shaqiri's performance was up there with his best in Stoke colours and showed why the Swiss had arrived at the Britannia Stadium with such a glowing reputation for attacking flair following his stints at Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
Manchester City have now gone four Premier League away matches with a victory, as they dropped to third on the league ladder.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Stoke City travel to Upton Park to face West Ham on Saturday.
Manchester City host Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League on Tuesday, before welcoming Swansea City to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
TWITTER INSIGHT
What a cracking game and amazing atmosphere! We've showed what we're capable of once again! Proud of the team! #SCFCpic.twitter.com/TVFLVJJejg
— Bojan Krkic (@BoKrkic) December 5, 2015King arna!
— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) December 5, 2015what a performance, from the first min to the last! front players were one fire! nothing less than we deserved!
— Jack Butland (@JackButland_One) December 5, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
Stoke manager Mark Hughes was delighted with his team's performance:
“It was a great performance by the guys. Each and every one of them put in a high-level performance and as a consequence of that we were able to win against the team top of the pile."
Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini bemoans his side's lack of personnel:
"We had a lack of reaction, too many games for the same players. We defended very badly but we also had not too many chances to score. We are playing with 13 players in all competitions. It was a defeat."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
3 - Man City have failed to score in three consecutive Premier League away games for the first time since April 2009. Blanks.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 5, 201558 - Man City have not won a Premier League game from two-goals behind since Feb 2005 vs Norwich (D3 L55 since). Uphill.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 5, 2015
TEAM LEADERS
Stoke
Goals - Marko Arnautovic 5
Assists - Xherdan Shaqiri 3
Clean sheets - Jack Butland 6
Yellow cards - Erik Pieters 5
Red cards - Ibrahim Afellay, Charlie Adam, Ryan Shawcross 1
Man City
Goals - Sergio Aguero 7
Assists - David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne 6
Clean sheets - Joe Hart 7
Yellow cards - Fernandinho 5
