Stoke City earned an excellent home win over Leeds United in a match that was defined in five second half minutes. It is rare back-to-back league wins for The Potters and a potentially pivotal six points for them and Alex Neil coming back after the international break, when pressure had been growing. From 21st on Saturday morning, they are only up to 17th but just four points off the top six in a congested division. Leeds United came into the game off the back of a very impressive victory away at Norwich City and the travelling team were very much on form.
Stoke started aggressively straight from the whistle as fan favourite Andre Vidigal latched onto an in swinging cross from Ki Jana Hoever, however, it was an easy save for Meslier. The Leeds keeper was constantly being worked in the opening stages as just minutes after Vidigal saw another effort saved after striker Ryan Mmaee flicked a Vidigal cross towards goal, however, his effort was easy for Meslier to claim.
Stoke were the team asking all the questions in the first half as they dominated all the possession and had the better chances. Leeds struggled to string any passes together and they struggled to create any real chances for themselves. The biggest chance of the half fell to winger Andre Vidigal who powerfully headed an effort towards the Leeds goal after an incredible Ki Jana Hoever cross, however, again, Meslier was there to save.
Leeds came out sharper in the second half as they looked quicker and more creative than Stoke. Leeds tried to capitalise on this bright start to the half with loanee Jaidon Anthony creating an opportunity for himself at the edge of the box, however, his effort from range flew over the bar. The Leeds pressure continued as striker Rutter dragged two shots wide of the post. The travelling team were then awarded a penalty as substitute Patrick Bamford was brought down in the box by Ben Pearson. After a nervy few seconds for the Stoke fans, the stadium erupted as the Leeds striker skied his penalty over the bar.
The home side were then rewarded for their constant battling shown throughout the game as an in swinging corner was headed onto the crossbar and the ball bounced off a Leeds defender into the net to make it 1-0 to Stoke.
The Potters resumed play and held off a relentless period of pressure from Leeds and held onto all 3 points, and the full time whistle rung around to signal back to back wins, as the stadium erupted.
Alex Neil was full of praise for his team after the game, here’s what he had to say:
“I thought it was more than that if I'm honest. I thought it was more than a battling performance. There was good spells in the first half when we used the ball really well. I thought it was probably a 20 to 25-minute spell when we were really on top and probably had two or three good opportunities but didn't really take any of them.
I thought our fans blew the roof off once the penalty was missed and from there you could our players get a bit of energy from that and we went on and won the game. That's two really strong opponents we’ve played and picked up six points."
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