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Twitter lauds Xherdan Shaqiri as Stoke City defeat Hull City

Stoke City's Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates scoring their second goal with Marko Arnautovic (REUTERS)
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Stoke City secured back-to-back Premier League victories after a comfortable 2-0 defeat over Hull City.

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes with Stoke City's Xherdan Shaqiri

Previously under-fire Stoke City boss Mark Hughes oversaw a comfortable victory over Premier League strugglers Hull City at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday.

The 2-0 win means that Stoke have risen to 16th in the Premier League standings, after a poor start to the season that saw them bottom of the table with just one point from their first five games.

Hughes’ men have Xherdan Shaqiri to thank for the two goals – a fact that was not lost on their supporters on social media outlet Twitter.

Stoke City's Xherdan Shaqiri scores their first goal

The 25-year-old’s goals were his first since the opening day of the season and also means that Shaqiri’s last four strikes have all come from outside the penalty area.

For the first of his brace, the Switzerland international cut inside from the right, drifted past Hull’s weak attempt at intercepting the run, and after being afforded too much space on the edge of the area fired past goalkeeper David Marshall in the Tigers’ goal.

Stoke City's Xherdan Shaqiri scores their second goal

For Stoke’s second goal, Shaqiri accurately converted a sweetly-struck left footed free-kick, demonstrating the kind of ability that had the Stoke number 22 likened on Twitter to former greats Paul Scholes, John Arne Riise and Roberto Carlos. Conversely, the diminutive midfielder was rather humorously also contrasted to actor Danny de Vito.

Here is a taste of Stoke supporters’ views on Xherdan Shaqiri’s performance for The Potters, which saw the midfielder make five key passes and create chances for team mates Marko Arnautovic and Wilfied Bony, in addition to his two decisive goals.