Aston Villa underlined their Champions League credentials as Stoke City were undone by a second-half header from substitute John Carew.
Villa broke the deadlock on the hour when Ashley Young crossed for Carew to nod home the winner from six yards.
Stoke defended doggedly throughout, but offered little by way of goal threat beyond a disallowed first-half effort from Mamady Sidibe.
Steve Sidwell might have added a late second for Villa, but twice fired wide.
It was a fourth successive Premier League win for Martin O'Neill's men, who are unbeaten in seven games since early November and now sit third in the table, two points clear of Arsenal, who entertain Hull this evening.
But while Villa's statistics are impressive, their lack of fluency in the face of some impressively stubborn Stoke defending was at times less so, and it would have been an injustice to the visitors' resilience had Sidwell done better with two late efforts from just outside the box.
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