Stoke City 0-0 Southampton: Saints frustrated by 10-man Potters
Wednesday 14 December 2016 23:05, UK
Southampton missed out on the chance to make it two wins from two in the Premier League after being held to a frustrating 0-0 draw at Stoke on Wednesday night.
The Potters were forced to play most of the match with 10 men after Marko Arnautovic was sent off by referee Anthony Taylor for a late challenge on Sofiane Boufal midway through the first half.
However, without injured striker Charlie Austin, Claude Puel's side lacked a clinical edge up front and rarely threatened Lee Grant's goal, despite dominating possession.
Both sides have struggled to score this season and there was little in the way of goalmouth action in the opening 20 minutes of the match.
However, the game burst into life midway through the first half when Arnautovic needlessly lunged into a tackle on Boufal.
Referee Taylor consulted his linesman before showing the red card and replays showed it was the correct decision, despite protests from Potters boss Mark Hughes.
Southampton began to dominate possession but were guilty of wasting a number of chances with their poor final delivery.
The half-time interval did little to change the match and Southampton were mostly limited to long-range shots - the best coming from Ryan Bertrand, who stung the palms of Grant with a rasping drive from 30 yards out.
Boufal had a late chance to win it for the visitors when he was played through on goal but instead he elected to pass to Jay Rodriguez, who failed to convert the chance.
Player Ratings
Stoke City: Grant (7), Johnson (7), Shawcross (8), Martins Indi (7), Pieters (6), Whelan (5), Adam (6), Shaqiri (5), Allen (6), Arnautovic (3), Walters (5)
Subs used: Diouf (6), Muniesa (N/A)
Southampton: Forster (6), Bertrand (7), Fonte (6), Van Dijk (6), Martina (6), Ward-Prowse (6), Romeu (6), Davis (5), Long (5), Redmond (7), Boufal (6)
Subs used: Rodriguez (5), Tadic (5), McQueen (N/A)
Man of the match: Ryan Shawcross
