Stoke City’s Viktor Johansson kept the score at zero goals while Swansea may have won if they had played better in the last moments.

In an exciting match with few clear cut opportunities until Stoke finished on the front foot, Tom Cannon had a shot saved off the line, and Million Manhoef was denied at close range, Johansson made a few big saves. Jisung Eom struck the crossbar for Swansea, but Lawrence Vigouroux had already saved Cannon from a one-on-one.

Narcis Pelach ends a hectic first chapter in his life as Stoke’s head coach with four points from the week. He now has a two-week break until things pick back up.

In the first few minutes of this one, Bae Junho gave Swansea a great opportunity by being too careless in possession on the outskirts of his own box while attempting to look pretty with a reverse flick. After reading it, Ronald snatched it and made Viktor Johansson make a nice flying save.

Swansea’s greatest threat was Ronald, who found space to score when crosses came in from the left and ought to have scored at least one when he slid past the far post. Ronald also caused mayhem with another goal, forcing Wouter Burger to make a last-ditch block to save a shot from Matt Grimes. Swansea broke from a controversial goal-kick, granted by a bewildered-looking referee Andy Davies after Swansea had shoved it behind their own line from a Junho corner. It was Ronald who also set up Jisung Eom to strike the crossbar just before halftime.

When Bocat and Junho executed a superb one-two to reach the by-line cutting in from the left, it was Stoke’s most obvious opening. Vigouroux made a save as he dashed into a one-on-one situation with a narrow angle. When Koumas broke down the right wing to pull back, Moran also had a shot deflected wide as he and Cannon sat deep as defenders rushed past them. With a perfectly placed header at the beginning of the second half, Zan Viptonik forced Johansson into another save.

After being set free by Moran, Cannon broke through the half-way line, racing behind the defence to take aim at Vigouroux, who made a deft stop as the striker attempted to target the bottom right corner. It was Cannon, too, who later saw a shot pushed off the line by Ben Cabango following a fantastic spin to get into the area by Moran. In nine minutes of second-half injury time, Manhoef was put through by Emre Tezgel and had a chance to score, but his shot was blocked by the bar, forcing both teams to settle for a point apiece.