Crystal Palace remain in 19th place in the Premier League after Joe Allen scored the only goal in the game in the second-half to condemn the Eagles to defeat once again.
Sam Allardyce made two changes to the line-up that lost to Sunderland last week as Andros Townsend and deadline day signing Luka Milivojevic both came into the starting eleven.
Palace had chances in the game but once again defensive errors cost them as Stoke capitalised on their mistakes. Some fans may even say that Palace didn’t deserve to win but, in my opinion, they certainty didn’t deserve to lose either.
(Alfonso Greenbook is the host of the e-Crystal Palace podcast, a weekly podcast reviewing Palace games on YouTube, iTunes and acast.)
Wayne Hennessey - 6
Made a good save in the first half from Marko Arnautovic and unlike last week, he handled pretty much every high ball well. Some may blame Allen’s goal on him, though.
Joel Ward - 5
Terrible – Struggled to mark Ramadan and stop crosses from coming in.
James Tomkins - 6
Caught out of position for Allen’s goal but was confident throughout. Did a good job at frustrating Arnautovic with some well-timed tackles.
Damien Delaney - 6
Some may blame him for the goal. He won a number of high balls and put in a few blocks.
Patrick Van Aanholt - 7
He impressed throughout the game and formed a decent partnership with Townsend down the left. Was good defensively and offensively.
Luka Milivojevic - 7
A good debut for the Serbian. Looked good as he gave Palace needed steel in the middle of the park which had been missing in the last few weeks. Only downside: he lost Allen for the opening goal.
James McArthur - 7
Was busy and put pressure on the opposition as usual. Almost scored in the first half with a header.
Jason Puncheon - 5
Another game to forget. He was off pace again and struggled to have an impact on the game.
Wilfried Zaha - 6
It was a frustrating afternoon for Zaha. Although he was a threat down both the left and right, he was targeted by Stoke and restricted to few chances.
Andros Townsend - 8
It was another good display. Allardyce got the best out of him with driving runs forward and plenty of crosses. Like Zaha, he did his defensive duties. A massive improvement!
Christian Benteke - 6
Was much more involved then in past games and won nearly all his areal battles. Didn’t have any real chances though.