Five greatest Premier League moments: Stoke City
Stoke City may have become a forgettable mid-table Premier League team nowadays, but they have certainly caused a stir in their nine years at the top table of English football.
The Potters were overwhelming favourites to drop straight back into the Championship in 2008 but they fought on, survived and thrived.
Here, we look at their five greatest Premier League moments:
Big Mama we’re all crazy now
It’s hard to comprehend looking back but Aston Villa arrived into the 2008-09 season as genuine top-four contenders – but Stoke brought them down a peg or two in their first home game in the Premier League.
A raucous atmosphere greeted both teams and the Potters played their hearts out, with Liam Lawrence’s penalty separating the sides at the break.
After a 3-1 hammering at the hands of Bolton on the opening day, Stoke had plenty to prove, and when John Carew slotted home Villa’s leveller, it looked like defeat was on the cards.
ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images)
But Ricardo Fuller produced a moment of magic, flicking the ball over Martin Laursen’s head before arrowing a low drive into the bottom corner.
Villa came back though as Martin Laursen tapped in, but Mamady Sidbe nodded in a Rory Delap long throw to seal the points and announce Stoke as a Premier League side.
Arsenal ‘Delapidated’ by missile Rory
Arsenal, the personification of pure football, against Stoke, a throwback to the 1970s, was always going to be a tasty clash. And so it proved.
Over the years, the Gunners have dreaded the long trip up to Staffordshire, and the tone was set during their first clash in 2008.
Just months after Stoke’s promotion, the Potters had adjusted to the challenges of the top flight – Arsenal were the acid test.
But Rory Delap was cooking up a storm in the Midlands with his arrow throws, and Arsenal’s naïve defending helped them work a treat.
Fuller was the first beneficiary, glancing in from a few yards out, and Seyi Olofinjana bundled in a second after the break.
Wenger was seething after several agricultural challenges from Stoke’s defenders, and after 90 minutes of bad-tempered football, a new rivalry was created. Stoke have loved every second of it.
Pulis inspires Stoke to first win
Three defeats from their first three games in the 2010-11 season left Stoke reeling, and when Stewart Downing headed Aston Villa into a half-time lead on Monday Night Football, a sense of dread swept across the Britannia.
Tony Pulis was not at the match due to the death of his mother that morning but the Welshman’s emergence out of the tunnel along with his players for the second half put a lump in everyone’s throat.
The stadium rose as one to applaud Pulis and pay its respects in one of the most powerful moments in the club’s recent history.
Stoke’s players were fizzing, inspired by the presence of their manager on the touchline. Kenwyne Jones nodded in the equaliser on debut before Robert Huth touched home a 90th-minute winner.
‘Stokealona’
Tony Pulis’ Stoke career fizzled out in the end, and Mark Hughes arrived with a point to prove in 2013 with a mandate to change the way they played.
The changes were gradual but all of a sudden, Stoke became a team looking to use the ball in other ways that hoofing it into the channels.
The 2015-16 season provided some of the best football ever seen by the home fans, with the likes of Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnaotovic and Xherdan Shaqiri pulling the strings.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Manchester City were played off the park in a 2-0 win, while Everton were outfought in a 4-3 thriller. But the best was to come.
Stoke have always seen Manchester United as a rival, and when Louis van Gaal’s side arrived on Boxing Day 2015 they were a sitting duck.
Stoke fans, incredibly, expected victory and the players duly delivered. Bojan and Arnautovic delivered the goals as United were outclassed. Three points have never tasted so sweet.
Stoke survive relegation scrap
Stoke have never really been dragged into a relegation scrap but in the 2012-13 season, a woeful run of form had some pundits tipping them for the drop.
Tony Pulis and his players had noticeably lost their mojo, and the club’s descent into the second division looked inevitable.
But Pulis prepared himself for one last battle and a 1-0 win at Norwich City, followed by a 2-0 win against QPR, saw the club safe.
That summer, Pulis bid farewell with his status as one of the club’s greatest ever managers secured.
