Stoke 3 Villa 2 - verdict

Aston Villa were given a rude awakening by Premier League new boys Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

In front of a packed crowd, the home side roared forward and took the lead when Martin Laursen gave away a penalty and Liam Lawrence slotted home.

This pushed Villa into action and they equalised after 63 minutes through Carew.

But the Potteries club were far from finished and in typical Stoke style they fought back to take the lead again through Ricardo Fuller.

But Villa are nothing but professional and the thought of losing to the new boys fired them up. Martin Laursen made up for his earlier error by equalising minutes from the end. Then Rory Delap popped up to seal a memorable win for Stoke.

This will be an alarm call for Villa, who won easily at home last week but now know things are never easy in the Premier League, with even the new-boys ready to give a tough time.