By Alan Duffy

Stoke City 0-1 Sunderland Premier League 4th February 2012

Martin O'Neill's Black Cats continued their ascent of the table on Saturday against Stoke, although the very harsh sending-off of Robert Huth on half-time was undeniably a game-changing moment.

Stoke lost their unbeaten Europa League record last night in Turkey going down 3-1 to Besiktas, Ricardo Fuller and Jermaine Pennant got the Turkey treatment as they were showered with lighters and coins but Stoke manager Tony Pulis refused to report the incident to UEFA quoting: We are Stoke we don't complain.

Two nearly naked footballers in one day? Our beakers runneth over! Thanks Stefan Nikolic of Steaua Bucharest. Image: REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel.

We realise we made a huge deal about not covering the Europa League last season. But obviously, recent events from in the Champions League have forced our hand and we thought we should show willing before the big boys come.

By Chris Wright

Unbeaten going into the game, ten-man Stoke stumbled to defeat in Turkey in their final Group E game, though it mattered little with them having already booked their place in the knockout phase courtesy of a draw against Dinamo Kiev last time out.

Disappointing midweek arrived for English teams in their Europa League campaign, Fulham have to forget their European ambition as they're journey ended on Wednesday after only picking up a point against Odense BK.

Meanwhile, Stoke City suffered their first defeat in the competition but still secure their passage into the next round although that loss relegated the Potters into runners up position behind Besiktas.

Besiktas vs Stoke City 3-1 Europa League Highlights Video 2011 Goals Fuller Fernandes Edu is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Besiktas vs Stoke City 3-1 Europa League Highlights Video 2011 Goals Fuller Fernandes Edu is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Besiktas vs Stoke 2011 ( Besiktas Stoke Video below) Final score and result:- Besiktas vs Stoke 3-1 ( Manuel Fernandes, Mustafa Pektemek, Edu/ Ricardo Fuller) Europa League- 14 December, 2011- [.

I said, it could be done and Besiktas did it!
Besiktas beat, unbeaten Stoke City 3-1 and claim the top spot in the group E and earned a spot in the round 32 of Europa league..
They,prett much did the damege to Stoke in the second half, after going down in the first half.

Match Preview: Stoke vs Liverpool

After the drudgery of the international break, the Premier League returns this weekend and Liverpool face a tough test of their new side with a trip to Stoke. Having taken 7 points from their first 3 games, the new-look Reds have turned heads already this season, and a win at the Britannia Stadium would only reinforce their return as a team to be reckoned with.

Turns out we're trying to get Cameron Jerome, again. At first glance, I don't see why we'd spend over 3 million on a striker that scored 3 goals last year. Yet, when looking at it further, Birmingham couldn't score (something Aston Villa is currently experiencing; thank you Alex McLeish!), and we're in dire need of a striker.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Ryan Smith has resurfaced in Spain.

The speedy left winger, who left Sporting Kansas City earlier this season for unspecified family issues, is reportedly on trial with Real Zaragoza after joining the club at the start of its preseason camp.

There seemed a deliberate tactic by Stoke City to try to get Joey Barton to lose his temper in last Saturday's game. Good shot of Joey Barton in action against Stoke One blatant foul on Joey late in the second half, that went unpunished by the way, was when Ricardo Fuller kicked Joey off the [...]

By Chris Wright

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is confident that he will be able to complete the signings of Sulley Muntari (on loan from Inter Milan) and Stephane Sessegnon (€6 million from PSG) before the weekend is out.

By all accounts, this Sessegnon character is a bit of a scheister, so he may just be worth keeping an eye on if not for purely footballing reasons.

This week has seen a flurry of transfer action with deals rebounding from club to club which started with Darren Bent's shock switch to Aston Villa from Sunderland for an initial £18m. Since that deal, Sunderland have identified Stoke forward Ricardo Fuller as a replacement, whilst Stoke replace the outgoing Fuller with Aston Villa bench warmer John Carew on a season long loan.

This week has seen a flurry of transfer action with deals rebounding from club to club which started with Darren Bent's shock switch to Aston Villa from Sunderland for an initial £18m. Since that deal, Sunderland have identified Stoke forward Ricardo Fuller as a replacement, whilst Stoke replace the outgoing Fuller with Aston Villa bench warmer John Carew on a season long loan.

The rumour mill seems oddly quiet this morning with no new names being touted in connection with a move to Spurs. Suarez again gets a mention but most of the attention seems to be on yesterday's name Giuseppi Rossi.

With regards to the exit door, that's a different story. There's a suggestion that Spurs have rejected a loan offer from West Ham for Robbie Keane, but most of the focus is on Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Prepare to get dizzy Forget the managerial merry-go-round, the latest job exchange to hit the Premier League is the striker merry-go-round. Sunderland, Aston Villa and Stoke City seem to have agreed on some sort of pass-the-goalscorer party game, if all the deals that are on the verge of being completed go through.

With Darren Bent gone and Danny Welbeck out for six to eight weeks with a knee problem the Black Cats face a striker crisis.

It seems like the North-East club will be forced to play Asamoah Gyan upfront on his own unless they can get in a new striker.

So what options does Steve Bruce have?

With Darren Bent gone and Danny Welbeck out for six to eight weeks with a knee problem the Black Cats face a striker crisis.

It seems like the North-East club will be forced to play Asamoah Gyan upfront on his own unless they can get in a new striker.

So what options does Steve Bruce have?