​"Stoke beat Villa to reach Quarter Finals"

​Championship side Stoke will host Tottenham in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup after beating last season's finalists Aston Villa in the fourth round.

​Sam Vokes scored the game's only goal in the first half - the veteran striker heading home following a corner.

​A much-changed Villa, beaten by Manchester City in the 2019-20 final, struggled for clear cut chances.

​Anwar El Ghazi went closest but shot straight at goalkeeper Adam Davies.

​Stoke, who beat Wolves - another top-flight outfit - in the second round, were good value for their win as they continued their positive start to the season.

​The Potters have lost just once in seven games in all competitions, winning four of their past five.

​Vokes caused the Villa defence plenty of problems with his physicality, missing the chance to get his second of the game when he headed wide in the second half.

​Substitute Ollie Watkins had a shot pushed over by Stoke keeper Davies as Villa tried to find an equaliser in the closing stages but the visitors defended well to secure their place in the last eight.

​Aston Villa boss Dean Smith: "It's a massive missed opportunity and I said that to the players. I don't often get into them at half-time but I did today because we were that poor in the first half.

"With the tempo we played at it was a lacklustre first half and an awful performance. The first-half performance was way below the standards.

"We got rewarded (at Bristol City) last week and rightly so. What I expected was a similar performance but we were too lacklustre and made too many mistakes on the ball."
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