Stoke City are leading Sunderland 1-0 at half time as the sides meet in the Premier League this afternoon, thanks to a first-half goal from Charlie Adam.

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Sunderland looked to take the game to the hosts as Adam Johnson found Jack Colback, but his left-footed shot from the centre of the box was blocked.

Robert Huth then had to make a clearance off the line to deny the head of Steven Fletcher, as the visitors continued to try to force the issue early on.

Fletcher was in the thick of it again as he almost put Sunderland ahead having been found by Ondrej Celustka, but his effort was blocked.

Marko Arnautovic looked menacing and he almost helped to put Stoke in front, but his long-range effort was kept out by the Sunderland defence.

The home side took the lead through midfielder Adam, who collected a pass from Steven N'Zonzi before guiding the ball into the bottom-left corner on the half-hour mark.

Sunderland were then dealt a blow towards the end of the half as defender Wes Brown was given a straight red for a dubious foul, having looked to have completely missed his man with an attempted challenge.