Stoke's first home game in the Premier League produced an exciting 3–2 win over Aston Villa with Mamady Sidibé getting the winner in the 93rd minute.

Stoke claimed a valuable point away at title challenges Liverpool in September and earned wins over Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion in October and November with Rory Delap's long throw-ins causing defences problems.

Stoke hit poor form in December failing to win a match and had to deal with an embarrassing on-field clash between teammates Ricardo Fuller and captain Andy Griffin away at West Ham United.

Stoke continued to improve and pulled clear of the relegation zone with important victories over Bolton, Middlesbrough and West Brom.

Manager Tony Pulis gave debuts to new signings Thomas Sørensen, Seyi Olofinjana and record £5 million man Dave Kitson.

This knocked all the momentum out of Stoke and Bolton took full advantage and scored twice through Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander to put Wanderers 3–0 up at half-time.

Both sides made a positive start and Stoke took the lead in the 30th minute when Liam Lawrence scored from the spot after Martin Laursen had brought down Rory Delap.

The lead didn't last long as Stoke failed to deal with an Ashley Young free kick and Laursen made amends for his earlier errors.

Boro had the chance to make sure of the win midway through the second half after Abdoulaye Faye fouled Alves in the area but Stewart Downing hit the crossbar from the resulting spot kick.

Everton thought they should have had a penalty when Cort handled in the area but the referee, Alan Wiley deemed it outside the box which resulted in David Moyes been sent to the stands for his protest.

Peter Crouch acrobatically fired Pompey into the lead from Jermain Defoe's cross after 24 minutes at a time when the Potters were slightly on top of the game.

Ricardo Fuller forced home an equaliser just after the break, but Defoe secured all three points for the hosts just three minutes later when he beat Simonsen at his near post with a low drive.

The first came after 17 minutes when Gareth Bale fouled Tom Soares in the area and received a red card, Higginbotham scored from the spot after having to reset the ball four times due to strong winds.

[9] The first Tuesday night match in the Premier League came at home against Roy Keane's Sunderland who had beaten rivals Newcastle United at the weekend.

[12] Stoke went to Wigan still looking for their first away win in the Premier League however the home side were full of confidence and had Egyptian striker Amr Zaki in fine form.

[13] Stoke then made the short trip to Manchester United in what turned out to be a poor game for City as the reigning champions scored five times without reply.

[16] One bizarre moment of the match came when Hull substitute Dean Windass was shown a yellow card by referee Keith Stroud without coming on to the pitch, after he began to warm-up to close to Delap who was preparing to take a throw-in.

Stoke improved greatly in the second half and when Ricardo Fuller was brought off the bench the game started to change and moments later he set up Sidibé for a simple tap in.

[19] There was an unsavory moment in the match when Fulham defender John Paintsil theatrically threw himself to the ground after minimal contact from Ricardo Fuller.

Mike Jones gave Fuller a straight red for violent conduct and West Ham went on to win the match 2–1, Diego Tristán earning the Hammers the three points.

Firstly Delap hit the crossbar from seven yards and then Shawcross put the ball past Reina but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Stoke took the lead against the run of play in the 45th minute when Beattie out jumped Wayne Bridge and headed past Joe Hart.

[31] The match against Portsmouth came alive in the final 15 minutes, Kranjcar gave Pompey the lead and from the restart Stoke were awarded a penalty after Glen Johnson handled in the area.

[32] Abdoulaye Faye was ruled out of the match against Aston Villa meaning that an unfamiliar back pairing of Sonko and Higginbotham started.

Stoke were improved second half but couldn't score the equaliser, and the game looked finished after 80 minutes as John Carew fired Villa in to a 2–0 lead.

Stoke responded in the second half through a Shawcross header and came close to getting an equaliser but Marouane Fellaini made the points safe for Everton in added time.

Stoke had a number of chances to score the second but were unable to find the net and Newcastle claimed a fortunate point with ten minutes remaining through Andy Carroll.

The only goal came after 75 minutes when Liam Lawrence drilled the ball past Paul Robinson to send the Potters eight points above the relegation zone.

[41] A win away at Hull City would confirm survival for Stoke with two games remaining and with Phil Brown's side also looking for vital points in order to climb out of the relegation zone.

Manager Pulis decided to field a largely reserve side with the likes of Andy Davies, Ibrahima Sonko, Tom Soares, Michael Tonge all getting rare run outs.