The team, however, was doing well in the FA Cup after progressing past Cardiff City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton & Albion, setting up a tie with West Ham United in the quarter-final.

The game at Nantwich ended 2–1 to Stoke thanks to two goals for academy graduate Louis Moult, while Jake Sedgemore scored a fine 30-yard free kick as a consolation for the Dabber's.

Burnley equalised straight away as Huth brought down former Potters striker Chris Iwelumo in the penalty area allowing Graham Alexander to score from the spot.

Bristol pulled level five minutes later through Dominic Blizzard before Fuller gave Stoke a 2–1 win on the stroke of half-time with a trademark individual goal.

Wolves thought they had scored moments later when David Jones put the ball in the net but referee Lee Probert disallowed the goal for a foul on Thomas Sørensen.

Stoke then suffered a major setback when Kenwyne Jones fell awkwardly from a challenge from Jody Craddock forcing him to be replaced by Mamady Sidibé.

On ten minutes a clumsy challenge by Shawcross on Florent Malouda gave Lampard the chance to open the scoring but his penalty was poor and easily saved by Sørensen.

Prior to kick-off it was revealed that manager Tony Pulis would not be attending the match due to the death of his mother, meaning assistant David Kemp took over.

It seemed that a draw was to be the final outcome but in the 93rd minute Villa failed to clear a cross from Pennant and Etherington's shot deflected in off Robert Huth to give Stoke the three points.

Stoke gave Jermaine Pennant his first start and it was he who produced the first chance of the match, Huth hitting the post after Robert Green spilled his free kick.

[8] After the win in the League Cup against Fulham Stoke made the long trip north to face Newcastle United at a strange 4.10pm kick off on a Sunday.

Eiður Guðjohnsen came on in an attempt to win the match and with 5 minutes remaining Newcastle defender James Perch headed past his own keeper Tim Krul to give Stoke a 2–1 victory.

There was a controversial end to the half when Gary Neville, who had already been booked for one foul on Etherington, brought the winger down again in full flight, referee Andre Marriner didn't decide to show him a second yellow.

Wilson threaded an accurate ball out to the right hand side where Tuncay advanced forward, cut inside onto his left foot and unleashed a powerful shot into the top corner.

Despite that, chances continued to come for both sides in what was an exciting second 45 minutes, but it was the hosts who stole all three points thanks to Yakubu, who rifled home from eight-yards after a defensive mistake from Abdoulaye Faye.

Stoke finally went in front just after half time after a Delap long throw caused chaos in the Liverpool defence and Fuller scored his second goal of the week.

Stoke earned a point in the final minute via Etherington, a long kick from Begović was headed on by Jones to Tuncay who back heeled the ball to the winger who made no mistake.

Stoke sealed the win deep into stoppage time after some good link up play with Fuller and Walters set up Marc Wilson to score his first goal for the club.

Stoke responded half an hour later as Carew scored his first goal for the club after Craig Gordon miss timed his punch from a Delap throw.

[34] Stoke produced another abject away performance at West Ham and goals from Demba Ba, Manuel da Costa and Thomas Hitzlsperger ensured an easy win for the Hammers.

After Spurs's heavy UEFA Champions League defeat by Real Madrid they started the match at a high tempo and opened the scoring through Peter Crouch and extended their lead through Luka Modrić.

After a slow start to the match Stoke had a spell of sustained pressure in which Brad Friedel made a number of fine saves before City took the lead through a Jones header from a Delap long throw.

Stoke sealed the win five minutes after half time when man of the match Jermaine Pennant's shot took a deflection off Jody Craddock to make it 3–0 to the Potters.

City had more chances in the second half with Glenn Whelan the most likely to score whilst Ryan Shotton made his league debut for Stoke.

Five minutes before half-time, Stoke scored again after a mistake by Aaron Ramsey as he gave the ball to Pennant who ran at the Arsenal defence and his shot took a deflection off Johan Djourou and looped over Wojciech Szczęsny.

[47] The match against Wolves was a lethargic affair but 'came alive' in the final ten minutes as Robert Huth put the "Potters" into the lead through a trademark powerful header.

West Ham then scored a controversial equaliser after Frédéric Piquionne handled Thomas Hitzlsperger's through ball before lobbing it beyond the reach of the advancing Sørensen and into the net to ensure the two sides went in level at the break.

On the half-hour poor play from Martin Petrov allowed Pennant to cut in from the right wing and lay off Kenwyne Jones to give Stoke a 3–0 half time advantage.

Only Thomas Sørensen kept the scores level at half time having made a number of fine saves described by Stoke legend Gordon Banks as world class.

Stoke made the more positive start and were rewarded with the opening goal in the 23rd minute when Danny Higginbotham was left unmarked to head past Mark Schwarzer.