Paul Doyle's match report
That was a pretty enjoyable game. Leicester were the smoother team but Stoke showed character to twice come from behind, and Peter Crouch got amongst it to great effect when he came off the bench. A match report should appear here shortly. Thanks for your company, bye!
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Full time: Stoke 2-2 Leicester
Choupo-Moting wins a late corner for Stoke. Leicester thought it should have been a goalkick. This will be the last attack of the game - and it almost leads to a goal! Zouma’s near-post header loops towards goal, and Schmeichel dives dramatically to his right to punch it away!
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90+2 min “I think you’re right about Peter Crouch being a good candidate for national treasure - well-known, likeable, good at what he does, not partisan, self-deprecating, been around enough to be above it all (literally and metaphorically) and slightly eccentric,” says Charles Antaki. “David Attenborough without the gravitas.”
Yeah, his self-deprecation in particular makes him very likeable.
90+1 min “Demarai Gray really is a stylish player isn’t he,” says Michael Cosgrove, “particularly given his age, and better still is how he commands respect from opposing players when he gets the ball in space. My money says he has a very bright future ahead of him.”
Yep. The key is his decision-making, which you’d expect to improve as he gets more experience. He’s a lovely player to watch, elegant and progressive. He’s a decent outside bet for the World Cup squad too.
90 min There will be four minutes of added sweat and toil.
89 min Leicester are finishing strongly. They have been in control for most of this match, so the scoreline will irritate them.
88 min Iheanacho has a goal disallowed for offside. Mahrez’s first-time shot hit Allen and deflected to Iheanacho, who lifted it over Butland. He was a few yards beyond the last defender and there were no complaints.
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86 min Another Stoke change: Saido Berahino replaces Mame Biram Diouf.
84 min Leicester have calmed things down a little after a very tricky spell. Meanwhile, Baz has assumed the Clockwatch position should you wish to follow the 3pm games.
82 min Shaqiri’s flat, driven free-kick from the right is headed wide by Choupo-Moting. It wasn’t much of a chance, with defenders all around him.
80 min Leicester make their final change, with Marc Albrighton replacing Demarai Gray on the left wing. Gray was very good in the first half, pretty quiet in the second.
79 min Stoke are harassing Leicester much more than they did for the first 70 minutes. Crouch has changed the mood of the match as well as the score. Leicester look vulnerable defensively but still very dangerous on the break.
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78 min Vardy almost makes it 3-2 on the break. Iheanacho played the ball into the area, where Vardy was one against one with Shawcross. He dummied to shoot with his right foot and turned back inside, a brilliant piece of skill that sent Shawcross off like a fire engine going to the wrong fire, only to drag a left-footed shot a few yards wide. He should have scored.
74 min Peter Crouch is a national treasure.
GOAL! Stoke 2-2 Leicester (Crouch 73)
Crouchigollllll! Stoke are level through the simplest of goals. Shaqiri curled a fast outswinging corner to the near post, where Crouch got in front of Fuchs to thump an excellent downwards header into the net.
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72 min Allen plays a short pass back to the underlapping Zouma, whose well-struck shot from the edge of the area is comfortably held by Schmeichel at the near post.
71 min Vardy gobbles up the ground down the left, but the well positioned Wimmer blocks his attempted cross to Iheanacho.
70 min Stoke are lumping everything towards Crouch and Diouf now, which is fair enough in the circumstances.
69 min A Stoke substitution: the quiet Ramadan Sobhi is replaced by Peter Crouch.
67 min Stoke have gone to a back four, with Diouf moving from right wing-back to centre-forward.
66 min Claude Puel makes another change, with Andy King replacing the injured goalscorer Vicente Iborra. He looks a good player.
65 min Leicester have been much the better team today. They look really sharp and hungry, just as they did when Craig Shakespeare took over earlier in the year. They should sack their manager every fortnight.
64 min Some Stoke players thought Ndidi fouled Diouf in the build up to the goal. It looked a good challenge to me, and more importantly to Jon Moss.
61 min Just before the goal, Schmeichel made a terrific diving save from Shawcross’s header.
GOAL! Stoke 1-2 Leicester (Mahrez 60)
Riyad Mahrez gives Leicester the lead with a splendid solo goal. Ndidi won the ball in midfield and lobbed it across the field to Mahrez on the right. He slithered away from Pieters, moved into the area and hit an early left-footed shot that went through Butland into the net. Butland might have done better but I think the lack of backlift caught him by surprise.
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59 min A Leicester substitution: Shinji Okazaki off, Kelechi Iheanacho on.
58 min On reflection I don’t think Allen’s shot did hit Maguire, it just looped up in the air off the outside of his foot.
57 min Choupo-Moting cuts the ball back from the byline towards Joe Allen, whose left-footed shot is blocked by Maguire. It was slightly behind Allen, who still managed to drag the ball towards goal before it hit Maguire. Choupo-Moting has been Stoke’s most dangerous attacker by a distance.
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53 min Gray plays a cute pass infield to Mahrez, who shifts the ball away from Shawcross and blasts a fine low shot that whistles just wide of the far post. Leicester have been really good in attack today, full of class and menace.
52 min Mahrez shows why footballers dive so often. He was clearly fouled 25 yards from goal, tried to stay on his feet and eventually lost his balance. Because of the delay, Jon Moss gave no free-kick.
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49 min Vardy beats Zouma twice on the left before crossing just over the head of Okazaki. Then Mahrez hits an awkward, wobbling shot from 30 yards that is sensibly pushed over by Butland.
47 min A decent start to the second half from Stoke, with Allen’s deflected cross-shot well held by the stretching Schmeichel.
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46 min Peep peep!
Half-time reading
Half-time chit-chat
“Surely no list of Darren Fletcher’s greatest moments would be complete without mention of his header against Chelsea in 2005?” says Matt Loten. “Not only was it a winning goal against an imperious, early-Mourinho title-winning side, but it ended the Blues’ 40-match unbeaten run, and it was a logic-defying, looping, did-he-really-mean-that header back across the goal from an improbable angle to boot. Magnificent.”
“Know what the new and modern definition is of ‘cursed by fate’?” says Hubert O’Hearn. “It’s when you slog your through watching half an hour of uninspiring football and then - just then - your wifi needs to reconnect. So you type in your password etc etc and return to the match ... having missed the goal and all the replays. Ah.”
Half time: Stoke City 1-1 Leicester City
Peep peep! That was a half of two halves. The first was dire; the second was almost ceaselessly entertaining. Leicester have been the more dangerous side, with Gray looking impressive again, and will be aggrieved that they aren’t ahead. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45 min “Re the ref’s injury - obviously sorry to see that the poor bloke can’t continue but I have trouble with refs with names like Bobby,” says Kevin Ryan. “They should be named appropriately like, for example, Roger Kirkpatrick, who if memory serves me correctly was a ref in the 70s, bald with mutton chop sideburns. A man who stood no nonsense. Maybe that’s why today’s players badger and chase and harangue referees - it’s on account of their first names. You wouldn’t have seen old Roger putting up with Mr Terry et all chasing him across the pitch....”
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44 min The Stoke corner leads to an impromptu game of head tennis, until Choupo-Moting belabours a volley into orbit.
43 min Shaqiri’s low shot from 20 yards is pushed round by Schmeichel. It was a comfortable save. He might have been able to catch it but decided to play safe.
42 min “I agree that Stoke are probably too solid to be relegation candidates,” says Roy Allen. “They’ll grind out enough points. By “in trouble” I meant in decline. Unlikely to go down this year I’d have thought.”
Ah I see what you mean. Yep, I’d agree with that.
41 min Leicester have been extremely good in the last 10 minutes. Okazaki puts in a dangerous cross from the right that is shanked just over his own bar by Diouf.
GOAL! Stoke 1-1 Leicester (Shaqiri 39)
This goal isn’t just against the run of play; it’s an affront to the run of play. It was beautifully taken though. Choupo-Moting, with his back to goal, turned a nice pass round the corner to put Shaqiri through on the right of the area, and he opened his body to curl the ball past Schmeichel into the far corner.
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37 min Fine save from Butland! All of a sudden Leicester are rampant. Gray destroys Zouma on the left and cuts back a fast cross to the near post, where Okazaki stoops to twist his neck and head at goal from six yards. It bounced up at Butland, who shovelled it over the bar. The corner brings yet another chance, with Iborra heading over from Gray’s cross. He should have hit the target.
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36 min Zouma redeeems his own error with a crucial last-ditch tackle on Mahrez. It helped that Mahrez dithered just slightly when he had the option of an early ball across the face of goal to Vardy. The resulting corner almost leads to a similar goal to the first, with Iborra’s close-range shot blocked after another knock down from Maguire at the far post.
35 min That was a deceptively good finish from Iborra, who adjusted his body quickly to ensure the shot went on target rather than into orbit. It was straight at Butland but hit with such power that it was always likely to go in.
GOAL! Stoke 0-1 Leicester (Iborra 33)
Mahrez swings a deep corner to the far post that is won in the air by Maguire. He nods it down towards Iborra, who thrashes a half-volley through Butland from six yards.
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32 min Butland comes for Fuchs’s cross, gets nowhere near it and is happy to see Pieters head it behind for a corner. That leads to another corner, and then...
28 min Schmeichel makes a good save to deny Choupo-Moting. Sobhi, just inside his own half, played a fine through pass that allowed Choupo-Moting to run at the last man Maguire. He moved into the box, came inside from the left and hit a low right-footed shot that was pushed away by the sprawling Schmeichel. Sobhi’s pass and Choupo-Moting’s run were lovely; the final shot was a bit too close to the keeper.
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27 min This game is bad (and that ain’t good). Sorry, I don’t know what else to say. You know you’re in trouble when the most notable incident is a change of referee.
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26 min “I’m here,” says Patrick Rennie. “Could we discuss Darren ‘ consecutive games and playing every minute of almost all’ Fletcher. What moment of Fletcher’s career is your favourite?
- The back-heel flick assist to McFadden when Scotland beat Holland at Hampden?
- The two goals he scored for United against City in that 4-3 win.
- The fact that at 4-0 up with minutes to play in the Champions League semi final second leg his desire to not concede had not diminished and made that tackle on Fabregas only to be wrongly sent off?
- That Tony Pulis immediately made him captain of West Brom and he played every game while there?
- Or maybe his lovely goal last week.”
Having a square go with Micah Richards was my favourite. He was so good from 2008-10, he could have played for any team in the world.
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25 min Play has finally resumed after that refereeing change.
23 min “I’m watching in a pub in Hong Kong,” says Roy Allen. “The clientele are far from captivated by the spectacle so far. Stoke look like a team in trouble. Lacking pattern and inspiration.”
They’re too competent to be in trouble, aren’t they? I do agree though, that they lack a bit of inspiration in attack.
22 min The referee Bobby Madley has a calf injury and is going to be replaced by Jon Moss.
20 min ... and Mahrez cracks it into the wall. Stoke break dangerously, with Allen playing a fine pass to Sobhi on the left. He gets caught in four minds and Leicester launch a counter-counter-attack. Eventually Gray lofts a teasing ball to the far post that just evades the stretching Okazaki.
20 min Gray, the liveliest attacker so far, zips infield and is fouled by a combination of Diouf and Zouma. The free-kick is just outside the box, a fair way to the left of centre. Gray and Mahrez are over it...
17 min Anyone out there?
16 min This game is a struggle.
14 min Shaqiri’s shot from 20 yards dribbles tamely wide.
11 min The elegant Gray teases Zouma on the left of the box and drives a low cross into the six-yard box. Vardy gets to it first at the near post but his instinctive shot is smothered by Wimmer. That was excellent defending.
9 min Fletcher has played a few good passes for Stoke. That aside, they have been a bit subdued.
6 min “What is your opinion of Xherdan Shaqiri and how he has performed since moving to the Premier League?” asks Shaun Wilkinson. “When that happened, I was hugely excited to see how he would do at Stoke. He seems to have some good spells and scored some spectacular goals, but I can’t help thinking there could have been so much more.”
Yeah I agree. Stoke make a lot of eye-catching signings who don’t quite live up to their reputation. Shaqiri does some astonishing things with a football; he just doesn’t do them as much as we’d like. The Premier League’s a better place with him in it, though.
5 min Vardy vrooms down the right to win the first corner. Nowt happens. It’s still all Leicester though.
4 min Leicester have had all the early possession, with Stoke sitting surprisingly deep.
2 min This is a pretty attacking Leicester team, with Gray, Mahrez, Okazaki and Vardy all starting. They might become a slightly different, more proactive team under Claude Puel.
1 min Peep peep! After a minute’s silence ahead of Remembrance Day next weekend, Stoke get the game going.
The players emerge from the tunnel on a wet, windy crisp, sunny afternoon in Stoke. This being Stoke, there’s a cracking, old-fashioned atmosphere.
Some pre-match reading
Team news
Stoke City (3-4-2-1) Butland; Zouma, Shawcross, Wimmer; Diouf, Fletcher, Allen, Pieters; Shaqiri, Sobhi; Choupo-Moting.
Substitutes: Grant, Martins Indi, Adam, Afellay, Jese, Berahinho, Crouch.
Leicester City (4-2-3-1) Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Maguire, Fuchs; Ndidi, Iborra; Mahrez, Okazaki, Gray; Vardy.
Substitutes: Hamer, Dragovic, Amartey, King, Albrighton, Slimani, Iheanacho.
Referee Bobby Madley.
Preamble
Morning. The hype machine hasn’t gone into overdrive ahead of this match. That’s more an indictiment of our silly elitism than it is of Stoke and Leicester, two good teams who have established themselves in the second tier of the Premier League.
They have achieved that status in very different ways. Stoke are one of the most admirable clubs in the league, a beacon of stability in an age of managerial Tinder. Leicester are on their third coach of 2017, Claude Puel, who got off to a good start last week with a win over Everton. Victory for either team today would move them into the top table, closer to the holy grail of seventh place.
Kick off is at 12.30pm, and we’ll have team news any minute now.
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