The days of Stoke City bunkering in and hoping for the odd set piece scoring chance are long gone.
The Potters scored overturned a 3-2 deficit to win, 4-3, on a penalty kick from Marko Arnautovic at Goodison Park Monday.
The controversial penalty decision against John Stones helped Stoke City jump up to eighth in the table on 29 points while the Toffees remain on 26 points in 10th.
Needless to day, Everton manager Roberto Martinez was unhappy with referee Mark Clattenburg’s call.
“There is real anger at the final decision,” Martinez said. “The penalty is never a penalty. It’s a situation where it cost us the draw. We would have been disappointed with that but to not even get the draw is tough to take.
“John touches the ball – slightly – but it is a touch of the ball. It is a very soft decision in that respect.”
The first goal of the day came from a cross from Arnautovic, into the path of Xherdan Shaqiri:
After Lukaku drew Everton level, Shaquri’s left Tim Howard stranded on a lovely chip to put the visitors back in front:
Lukaku was a long way from being done, however, as this lovely bit of skill retied the match at 2-2:
In the 71st minute, Ross Barkley served up a nice cross for Gerard Deulofeu to put Everton back in front, 3-2. Joselu again knotted the score just nine minutes later:
That set the stage for the stoppage time penalty, which left Everton fuming and Stoke City smiling after its second victory in as many days.
“It was important that we backed up the win against United and we did that,” Stoke City manager Mark Hughes said. “We’d got into a winning position and then we lost the lead and we could have been disappointed with that, but we weren’t to be denied. When we got on level terms you sensed there might be more there for us.”
