West Ham United have withstood late pressure from Stoke City to take a 1-0 lead into the break.

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It took the Hammers just seven minutes to open the scoring at Upton Park when Cresswell curled a terrific free kick over the wall and into the top corner.

Cheikhou Kouyate almost doubled his team's advantage only to see Asmir Begovic react well to stop his long-range effort finding the corner, before up the other end, Jonathan Walters nearly got in on goal before a last-ditch block from Winston Reid.

As the half progressed, Stoke improved and on the half-hour mark, a speculative effort from Walters was well dealt with by Adrian, before Charlie Adam fired over from 25 yards.

The Potters continued to press, and with five minutes of the half remaining, Walters took the ball past James Collins before lashing his effort into the side-netting.

However, Stoke were dealt a blow before half time when Victor Moses was forced off with a leg injury.