An early penalty from Bojan Krkic proved decisive as Stoke City defeated Swansea City 1-0 in the Premier League at the Liberty Stadium on Monday.
The Spanish forward won the spot-kick himself and impressively converted for what proved to be the only goal in a game of few chances.
Jonjo Shelvey came inches away from equalising in the second half, but saw his drive from a tight angle rebound out to safety off the inside of Jack Butland's left-hand post.
The result secured consecutive away wins for Stoke for the first time since December 2011 and moves Mark Hughes' side above Swansea, who are winless in five league matches since beating Manchester United in August, in the table.
Both sides made two changes to their teams, with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Ki Sung-yueng dropping to the bench for the hosts, while Stoke were without Mame Biram Diouf – who remains on compassionate leave – and the injured Jon Walters.
Stoke had the lead within four minutes. Bojan's weaving solo run took him into the penalty area, where he was felled by Ashley Williams, who had no complaints.
The former Barcelona forward took the resulting penalty and comfortably dispatched his effort from the spot, sending Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way as he found the top corner.
Bafetimbi Gomis should have done better with a free header after being found by Jack Cork's cross, before Butland had a let-off as he was able to tackle Andre Ayew after sending a clearance straight at the Ghana international, who claimed the goalkeeper's challenge was a foul.
Shelvey shot straight at Butland from outside the box, while Glen Johnson struck wide at the other end in a low-key end to the first half.
Marko Arnautovic had a goal correctly ruled out for offside early in the second half after he tapped home Erik Pieters' cross from the left.
The hosts thought they were level just before the hour mark when Shelvey showed great strength to get past Philipp Wollscheid and fired under Butland from a tight angle, only to be denied when his shot hit the inside of the post and bounced out.
Stoke responded as Arnautovic beat the offside trap and got on the end of a Xherdan Shaqiri pass, but flicked his effort past the post under pressure from Fabianski.
Sigurdsson was brought off the bench for Swansea and he curled an excellent long-range effort just wide, while substitute Eder struck wide in the closing stages.
But Shelvey's earlier attempt was the closest they would come to an equaliser as Stoke celebrated an important victory.
Key Opta stats:
- This is the first occasion that the away side has won a Premier League contest between Swansea and Stoke.
- Stoke have won their last three Premier League games – this after winning just two of their previous 11 in the competition (W2 D5 L4).
- No PL side has scored a higher percentage of their goals in the opening 15 minutes this season than Stoke (33%).
- Swansea have failed to keep a clean sheet in six of their last seven PL fixtures.
- Bojan has found the back of the net in three of his last five Premier League starts on the road.