Joe Allen scored a personal-best sixth Premier League goal of the season as Stoke City secured a deserved 1-0 win over struggling Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Palace, embarrassingly beaten 4-0 by Sunderland last time out, were clearly under orders to provide more of a physical challenge and had three players booked before the interval.
Stoke should have taken the lead earlier when Allen headed an easy chance wide, but had their patience and persistence rewarded when Ramadan Sobhi laid the ball off to the Welshman, who steered home on 67 minutes for the win.
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Stoke XI: Grant, Bardsley, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Pieters, Whelan, Adam, Sobhi, Allen, Arnautovic, Crouch
Substitutes: Muniesa, Johnson, Berahino, Afellay, Diouf, Imbula, Given
Crystal Palace XI: Hennessey, Ward, Tomkins, Delaney, Van Aanholt, Milivojevic, McArthur, Zaha, Puncheon, Townsend, Benteke
Subs: Speroni, Flamini, Remy, Campbell, Schlupp, Sakho, Cabaye
Referee: Martin Atkinson
WHAT THEY SAID
Sam Allardyce: "I think we're bottom of the league in home points gained, and ninth in the league from points gained away from home.
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"It's not down to the fans; the fans don't place them under a huge amount of pressure, compared to other clubs I've managed.
"They want to support and get behind them.
"I apologise to them for coming and seeing what they saw in that first half."
HEAD-TO-HEAD
PREDICTION
Premier League table
Pos Team P W D L GD Pts 1 Chelsea 24 19 2 3 34 59 2 Tottenham 24 14 8 2 30 50 3 Manchester City 24 15 4 5 20 49 4 Arsenal 24 14 5 5 24 47 5 Liverpool 24 13 7 4 22 46 6 Man United 24 12 9 3 15 45 7 Everton 24 11 7 6 13 40 8 West Brom 24 10 6 8 2 36 9 West Ham 24 9 4 11 -9 31 10 Watford 24 8 6 10 -11 30 11 Stoke City 24 7 8 9 -7 29 12 Burnley 24 9 2 13 -9 29 13 Southampton 24 7 6 11 -7 27 14 Bournemouth 24 7 5 12 -12 26 15 Middlesbrough 24 4 9 11 -8 21 16 Leicester City 24 5 6 13 -17 21 17 Swansea City 24 6 3 15 -25 21 18 Hull City 24 5 5 14 -25 20 19 Crystal Palace 24 5 5 15 -13 19 20 Sunderland 24 5 4 15 -18 19Disappointment for West Ham fans today as Andy Carroll is not fit enough for a place in the Hammers' squad - it looks like Michail Antonio leads Slaven Bilic's front line. Not a bad call, considering he's one of the Premier League's best headers of the ball.
Albion subs: Myhill; Olsson, Robson-Kanu, Yacob, Evans, M Wilson, McClean.#WBA #WHUWBA
Albion team v @WestHamUtd: Foster; Nyom, Dawson, McAuley, Brunt; Livermore, Fletcher (c); Chadli, Morrison, Phillip… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…
1️⃣️ change for the Hammers ➡️️ @maanuulanzini10 ⬅️️ @AndyTCarroll #WHUWBA #COYI http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4Y0FJ2WMAA-98L.jpg
???? #SCFC Starting XI v @CPFC: Grant; Bardsley, Shawcross, M. Indi, Pieters; Whelan, Adam; Arnautovic, Allen, Ramadan… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…
Here's the #CPFC team for today's game against @stokecity. #STKCRY http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4Y526rWYAAnop6.jpg
#watfordfc subs v @ManUtd: Arlauskis (GK), Mariappa, Janmaat, Behrami, Doucouré, Success, Okaka.
#watfordfc line-up v @ManUtd: Gomes (GK); Cathcart, Kaboul, Prödl, Britos; Cleverley, Capoue; Niang, Zárate, Holebas; Deeney (c).
Here's how we'll line up against Watford this afternoon. #MUFC #MUNWAT http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4Y7QVIWMAAdKhS.jpg
Hello and welcome to Standard Sport's live coverage of Saturday's London Premier League action! We'll have team news for Manchester United vs Watford, West Ham vs West Brom and Stoke vs Crystal Palace in under 10 minutes, so sit tight.
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