Stoke City have eased past a 10-man Sunderland side with a 2-0 victory at the Britannia Stadium, thanks to goals from Charlie Adam and Steven N'Zonzi.
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Sunderland looked to take the game to the hosts as Adam Johnson found Jack Colback, but his left-footed shot from the centre of the box was blocked.
Robert Huth then had to make a clearance off the line to deny the head of Steven Fletcher, as the visitors continued to try to force the issue early on.
Marko Arnautovic looked menacing and he almost helped to put Stoke in front, but his long-range effort was kept out by the Sunderland defence.
The home side took the lead through midfielder Adam, who collected a pass from N'Zonzi before guiding the ball into the bottom-left corner on the half-hour mark.
Sunderland were dealt a blow towards the end of the half as defender Wes Brown was given a straight red for a dubious foul, having looked to have completely missed his man with an attempted challenge.
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Jonathan Walters almost put Stoke 2-0 ahead straight after the break when he unleashed a 25-yard effort, which was saved by Vito Mannone.
Stoke looked dangerous with their man advantage, especially on the counter, as Glenn Whelan broke away to find Adam, whose effort went wide having looked destined for the top corner.
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Sunderland nearly grabbed an equaliser against the run of play as Johnson picked up the ball outside the box before unleashing a wild effort that crept wide of goal.
However, N'Zonzi put the game to bed for Stoke in the 81st minute when he collected a through-ball from Peter Crouch, before finishing neatly with his right foot.
Christopher Dodd
