The 2010–11 season was Stoke City's third season in the Premier League and the 55th in the top tier of English football.
Stoke spent over £10 million in the summer of 2010 with the arrivals of Jermaine Pennant, Jonathan Walters, Marc Wilson with £8 million spent on forward Kenwyne Jones. Stoke made a bad start to the campaign losing their first three matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea. This was followed by wins over Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers. Stoke, however, hit poor form, losing four in a row in October and were knocked out of the League Cup by West Ham United. The club's inconsistency continued as they went through November with three victories and two draws. Poor defeats against Blackpool and Fulham in December prevented Stoke from pulling away from the bottom half of the table.
Stoke started 2011 in poor form, winning three of ten matches which ended with a 3–0 defeat against West Ham which left Stoke just four points above the relegation zone. The team, however, was doing well in the FA Cup after progressing past Cardiff City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton & Albion, setting up a tie with West Ham United in the quarter-final. A 2–1 victory saw Stoke reach their first FA Cup semi-final since 1972 and also helped them improve their league form. Stoke beat Newcastle United 4–0 and put in good performances against Chelsea and Tottenham before the semi-final against Bolton Wanderers at Wembley. Stoke produced arguably one their greatest ever performances, beating Bolton 5–0 to reach their first FA Cup Final. Stoke played well in the buildup to the final beating Wolves 3–0 and Arsenal 3–1. Stoke's opponents for the 2011 FA Cup Final were Manchester City and they scored the only goal of the contest though Yaya Touré. Stoke ended the season in 13th position with 46 points.
Pre-season Stoke announced that they will play local non-league sides Nantwich Town, Newcastle Town as well as Championship sides Derby County and Burnley and League One Bristol Rovers. Stoke also announced they will play a friendly against Notts County at Meadow Lane. The match against Burnley will be played at Huddersfield Town's Galpharm Stadium due to Turf Moor having a new pitch installed. Stoke announced that during the clubs week-long pre-season training camp in Austria they will play against the reigning Turkish Süper Lig champions Bursaspor.
Stoke began their pre-season with a 1–0 defeat by Bursaspor on their annual pre-season training camp in Austria; a mistake by goalkeeper Asmir Begović allowed İbrahim Öztürk to head in the only goal. Following their return to England, Stoke sent two teams to play at Nantwich Town and Notts County. The game at Nantwich ended 2–1 to Stoke thanks to two goals for academy graduate Louis Moult, while Jake Sedgemore scored a fine 30-yard free kick as a consolation for the Dabber's. The game at Notts County finished 0–0 with both sides missing good chances, most notably County's Lee Hughes and City's Tuncay. The next game was against local non-league side Newcastle Town, where Stoke won the game 6–0 with goals from Robert Huth, Ricardo Fuller, a hat-trick from Tuncay and a first Stoke goal for Michael Tonge. This was followed up with a 1–0 defeat by Derby County, Chris Porter scoring the only goal after ten minutes.
Stoke then travelled to Huddersfield to play Burnley, where Tuncay opened the scoring after good play by Liam Lawrence. Burnley equalised straight away as Huth brought down former Potters striker Chris Iwelumo in the penalty area allowing Graham Alexander to score from the spot. Stoke were not to be denied and claimed the win thanks to a fine goals by Tonge. Stoke's next opponent was Bristol Rovers and it was again Tuncay who opened the scoring after Rovers keeper Mikkel Andersen failed to keep out his first shot allowing him to tap in. Bristol pulled level five minutes later through Dominic Blizzard before Fuller gave Stoke a 2–1 win on the stroke of half-time with a trademark individual goal. City's final pre-season game saw them draw 0–0 with Conference Premier side Wrexham.
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport115 July 2010BursasporA0–1200Report222 July 2010Nantwich TownA2–1690Moult (2) 27', 37'Report322 July 2010Notts CountyA0–02,125Report424 July 2010Newcastle TownA6–03,360Huth 26', Fuller 63', Tuncay (3) 66', 79', 87', Tonge 71'Report527 July 2010Derby CountyA0–110,386Report631 July 2010BurnleyA2–11,435Tuncay 52', Tonge 67'Report73 August 2010Bristol RoversA2–12,249Tuncay 38', Fuller 45'+1Report86 August 2010WrexhamA0–01,619Report
Premier League
August For the season opener at Wolves, Stoke gave new record signing Kenwyne Jones his debut as the club made a bright start, with Jones hitting the crossbar with a powerful shot. Wolves thought they had scored moments later when David Jones put the ball in the net but referee Lee Probert disallowed the goal for a foul on Thomas Sørensen. Stoke then suffered a major setback when Kenwyne Jones fell awkwardly from a challenge from Jody Craddock forcing him to be replaced by Mamady Sidibé. This seemed to have a negative effect on Stoke as Wolves began to take control of the game and took the lead through a unique David Jones free kick. Wanderers scored a second just moments later with new signing Steven Fletcher scoring a close range header. In the second half Pulis decided to bring off Sidibé and replace him with Tuncay in an attempt to get back into the game. Stoke pulled one back with a powerful header from Abdoulaye Faye, giving themselves some hope. The second goal, however, never came, and Wolves beat Stoke for the first time since 2006.
Stoke gave new signing from Ipswich Jonathan Walters his debut for the first home match of the season against Tottenham. But it was the away side who started the match the strongest and took the lead through Gareth Bale after a goalmouth scramble. City responded quickly and drew level thanks to Ricardo Fuller taking advantage of some static Spurs defending. Stoke were not level for long as Bale scored his second with an unstoppable volley into the top corner of the net. It could have got worse for Stoke as they again failed to contain Bale but his shot was cleared of the line. In the second half Stoke took the game to Spurs and should have scored through Tuncay. Stoke did have the ball across the line in the final few minutes when Walters headed in but referee Chris Foy missed the goal. It got worse for Stoke after it was revealed that Sidibé had snapped an Achilles tendon meaning he missed the rest of the season.
Stoke went into the next match against Chelsea looking to avoid a repeat of the previous season's 7–0 drubbing, and with Chelsea already with two 6–0 wins it looked like it would be a long afternoon for Stoke. Jones recovered from his ankle injury and started up front with Walters and it was City who had the first chance of the match with Walters almost lobbing Petr Čech early on. On ten minutes a clumsy challenge by Shawcross on Florent Malouda gave Lampard the chance to open the scoring but his penalty was poor and easily saved by Sørensen. Chelsea took the lead through Malouda just before half time. Stoke tried to get back into the match with substitute Whelan hitting the crossbar in the second half. However Stoke's chances of pulling level were ended when Sørensen tripped Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba sealed a 2–0 win for the "Blues". The defeat meant that Stoke had lost three games in a row, their worst start to a league campaign since the 1986–87 season.
September Following the two-week international break Stoke faced Aston Villa on a Monday night still looking for their first points of the season. Prior to kick-off it was revealed that manager Tony Pulis would not be attending the match due to the death of his mother, meaning assistant David Kemp took over. Villa's new manager Gérard Houllier was also not present. City gave a debut to new signing Marc Wilson and Kenwyne Jones played in his first home match. Stoke made a bright start and had several opportunities to take the lead through Jones. However, it was Villa who took the lead against the run of play through Stewart Downing on 35 minutes. Villa then began to dominate and should have scored through Ashley Young but his header fell just wide. After half time manager Tony Pulis returned to the dugouts and he received a standing ovation from the home crowd. Stoke brought on Fuller and new boy Jermaine Pennant in an attempt to get back into the game. The equaliser came on 80 minutes through a trademark header from Jones. It seemed that a draw was to be the final outcome but in the 93rd minute Villa failed to clear a cross from Pennant and Etherington's shot deflected in off Robert Huth to give Stoke the three points.
West Ham United next made the journey to the Potteries still searching for their first points of the season. They were also without manager Avram Grant who was observing the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Stoke gave Jermaine Pennant his first start and it was he who produced the first chance of the match, Huth hitting the post after Robert Green spilled his free kick. Stoke were poor in the first half and it came as no surprise when Scott Parker took advantage to make it 1–0 to the visitors. The "Hammers" could have gone further in front moments later but Frédéric Piquionne's long range shot hit the crossbar. City greatly improved in the second half and equalised through Jones following good work by Walters and Pennant. Stoke pressed for the winning goal and hit the crossbar twice as West Ham held out for a 1–1 draw.
After the win in the League Cup against Fulham Stoke made the long trip north to face Newcastle United at a strange 4.10pm kick off on a Sunday. Stoke gave a surprise start to Salif Diao while Faye and Delap dropped to the bench, these changes seemed to disjoint Stoke as they put in an abject first half performance. Newcastle were awarded a penalty just before half time after Huth fouled Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan scored to put the "Magpies" in the lead. Stoke improved in the second half and twice hit the woodwork through Jones. Fuller and Delap came on in a bid to pull level but Fuller had to come off moments later with a suspected dislocated shoulder. Jones did find the net on 67 minutes after good work by Etherington and Huth. Eiður Guðjohnsen came on in an attempt to win the match and with 5 minutes remaining Newcastle defender James Perch headed past his own keeper Tim Krul to give Stoke a 2–1 victory. It was the first time since 1976 Stoke had won at St James' Park ironically Stoke's winner that day also came from a Newcastle own goal.
October For the first time since the Tottenham match, Stoke finally had a traditional 3:00 pm kick off at home for the visit of Blackburn Rovers. Pennant recovered from his injury and started on the right of midfield while Fuller's injury was not as bad as first feared and he was able to start on the bench. Stoke took the game to Rovers early on and had a number of half chances through Jones and Walters. Australian Brett Emerton came closest for the visitors in the first half but his header was cleared off the line by an alert Ryan Shawcross. Stoke scored the only goal of the match in the 48th minute when Jon Walters coolly beat Paul Robinson one-on-one after being but through by Etherington.