Stoke City beat Sheffield United 2:1 at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday in the eighth round of the Championship. The home side took the lead through a late equaliser and then went on to win, moving up to sixth in the table with 13 points. Sheffield United remain 17th on 9 points after their third defeat of the campaign.
Sheffield United struck first when Kalvin Phillips scored in the 51st minute, but Stoke responded through Jack Mcglynn in the 78th. And here's the thing — the game wasn't settled until Sam Gallagher's goal in the 86th minute, which proved decisive. There were plenty of bookings throughout, with three yellows coming at the 63rd minute alone.
Stoke made five changes during the match, bringing on Lamine Cissé and El Hadji Soumare together in the 64th minute. Maksym Taloverov came off after 65 minutes, followed by Oliver Arblaster for Sheffield United at 67. Then came the big wave of substitutions at the 80th minute, when Hamza Choudhury, Ben Brereton, Patrick Bamford, Eric Junior Bocat and Justin Devenny all entered the pitch.
The statistics tell a story of control without dominance. Stoke had 62 per cent possession and registered 10 shots, five on target, while Sheffield managed six attempts with three on target. Expected goals came in at 0.54 for the hosts and 0.48 for the visitors — not much between them, really. To be fair, both sides created nothing in the way of clear-cut chances, with big chances recorded at zero for each team.
What matters now is the gap widening between the two clubs. Stoke sit six places above Sheffield United, four points clear with a better goal difference. The home side have won four of eight games compared to Sheffield's two, and by then it was clear this result would cement the difference in their campaigns.
