Stoke City 3-1 Hull City: Mark Hughes' Double Substitution Proves Vital as Hull Remain 17th

?Stoke City beat Hull City 3-1 at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League. 

Goals from Marko Arnautovic, Peter Crouch and Xherdan Shaqiri were enough to clinch all three points for Mark Hughes’ side, who remain in 13th position. 

Hull had levelled terms through Harry Maguire but Stoke had too much quality for the visitors. Super strikes from Arnautovic and Shaqiri lit up the Bet365 Stadium in what was an entertaining encounter. 

Stoke made two changes from the side which lost against Liverpool last week – Charlie Adam and Marc Muniesa replacing the injured Joe Allen and Ibrahim Afellay, whilst Hull welcomed back Tom Huddlestone and Maguire. 

The game started with Hull displaying attacking intent but it didn’t take the home side long to get into their stride. With just six minutes on the clock, Arnautovic scored his sixth Premier League goal of the season in emphatic fashion. 

The Austrian curled an unstoppable effort past Eldin Jakupovic into the top right-hand corner after Hull had needlessly given the ball away. The former Inter Milan attacker will not score many better goals than this and he almost doubled his and Stoke’s tally shortly after. 

??Shaqiri dinked the ball over the top of the Hull defence and Arnautovic found himself through on goal. The 27-year-old opted for power over placement as he lashed his effort over the bar with just the ‘keeper to beat. 

Saido Berahino thought he’d broken his Stoke duck but his effort was correctly flagged for offside, signalling to the home crowd a second wasn’t far away. Shaqiri came close for Hughes’ side but his poor first touch let him down before his effort was blocked. 

Silva’s side almost manufactured an equaliser from Oumar Niasse. The Everton loanee was just inches away from meeting Sam Clucas’ inviting cross as it came as a warning sign to the home side. 

Efforts from Maguire and Lazar Markovic midway through the first-half highlighted this, but it was Arnautovic that almost struck again. The 6’3″ forward placed his effort wide when played through by Glen Johnson but Jakupovic done enough to put him off. 

Despite being a goal down at the break, the visitors could take solace in the fact they were causing Stoke problems and they were duly rewarded five minutes after the restart. A short corner eventually found it’s way to the former Sheffield United defender and he hit a downward volley into the back of Lee Grant’s net. 

The goal forced Hughes into making two changes and it nearly paid dividends. Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch entered the field of play and the former forced a brilliant save from Jakupovic. 

Arnautovic whipped in a cross and Walters diving header was parried away before Crouch snapped at the rebound. The Potters continued to press and the former Tottenham and Aston Villa striker was soon to be celebrating a deserved goal. 

Walters was involved again as he angled a far post cross in the direction of Crouch and he steered his header past Jakupovic. It was a brilliant goal from the 36-year-old and Hughes’ double substitution was looking very shrewd indeed. 

Silva’s side looked deflated from Crouch’s goal but they did almost nick a second equaliser through Kamil Grosicki. The Pole found himself through on goal but Grant had his angles covered and denied him. 

Stoke playmaker Shaqiri then put the game to bed with an insatiable strike from all of 30 yards on 82 minutes. The Swiss international sent a rasping effort past Jakupovic after hew picked up the ball and hammered home from distance. 

It was a marvellous strike from the former Bayern Munich man and he was rightfully applauded when he was subbed off on 87 minutes. The scoreline looked harsh on Hull, considering they looked threatening in the first-half, but it was the double substitution of Walters and Crouch they proved the difference.