Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland produced a Man of the Match performance as the Potters played out a goalless draw with West Ham United at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A first-half full of promise but short on quality saw Butland make an excellent stop to keep out André Ayew's acrobatic attempt, while Adrián kept out Joe Allen and Saido Berahino in the second period.

The highlight of the afternoon however was England international Butland - making just his second appearance of the season - denying Ayew and Manuel Lanzini within moments of each other as neither side could find the back of the net.

The draw means Mark Hughes remains unbeaten as Stoke manager against the Hammers but splitting the points here does little for either side's hopes of a top-half finish this season.

It does, however, almost confirm their Premier League status for another year. Stoke are now on 40 points with West Ham just one behind, both well ahead of 18th-placed Swansea City on 31, although the Swans have a game in hand on both teams.

Hammers unchanged as Potters swap two

Potters boss Hughes made two changes to the side that fell to defeat at Swansea last time out. Erik Pieters and Peter Crouch were the two to make way with Marc Muniesa and Glenn Whelan replacing them.

Jonathan Walters failed to make the squad due to a knee injury while goalkeeper Butland kept his place after making his return from 13 months out injured last weekend.

Slaven Bilić kept faith with the West Ham side that kept Everton to a goalless draw at the London Stadium a week ago, despite the return of captain Mark Noble from suspension.

The Croatian stuck with a 3-5-2 formation and welcomed back wingers Sofiane Feghouli and Robert Snodgrass from knocks, though frontman Andy Carroll missed out with a groin problem.

Berahino has gone over 1,500 minutes, and 14 months, since his last Premier League goal and almost ended that drought after eight minutes only to be denied at close-range by Winston Reid's sublime block after Marko Arnautović's pull-back.

Both sides enjoyed promising build-up, passing the ball about well, but their moves frequently broke down in the final third with neither goalkeeper under any real threat.

Butland denies Ayew in first-half of few chances

West Ham striker Jonathan Calleri shanked high into the stands from Edmilson Fernandes' ball into the box at one end and at the other, Berahino saw another attempt blocked by Reid after being found by Allen.

But despite having only had one save to make in the first half-an-hour, when he needed only gather Lanzini's 20-yard drive, Butland did excellently to push Ayew's bicycle kick wide.

Arthur Masuaku's cross was behind the Ghanian but he did well to hook a powerful attempt goalwards, though Butland leapt to his right to make a strong double-handed save.

Lanzini was the Hammers' liveliest attacking outlet and Fernandes should have done better after being found in space inside the box by the Argentine, but he side-footed a shot-cum-cross over the crossbar.

West Ham continued to look the more dangerous of the two teams before the break. Calleri timed his run well to latch on to James Collins' long ball over the top and drive into the area.

But the striker's ball into the near post was cleared by Ryan Shawcross and after falling back into his path, Calleri's audacious rabona attempt was blocked by Bruno Martins Indi.

Butland makes several fine saves to keep Stoke level

The restart invited a livelier end-to-end affair with Allen volleying into the side-netting from Glen Johnson's cross and Xherdan Shaqiri unable to keep a close-range shot on target either side while Cheikhou Kouyaté fired wide in between.

Adrián finally had his first save to make after 57 minutes when he tipped Shaqiri's fizzing curled left-footer over the crossbar and his involvement only increased from there.

The Spaniard parried Allen's effort from the edge of the box before producing a strong one-handed stop to push wide Berahino's shot from an angle.

And in a game that suddenly became all about both goalkeepers after both were largely unworked in the first 45 minutes, Butland made two fine saves on 64 minutes. His first saw him deny Ayew's drive away to his left before sprawling to keep out Lanzini's close-range header with his feet.

Bilić and Hughes both introduced substitutes with 20 minutes remaining, Peter Crouch and Mark Noble coming on for either team, but it was Arnautović who should have delivered the game's first goal.

The Austrian received a long ball over the top but Adrián was once again in the way to keep his close-range volley out before the 'keeper tipped the ball wide as Arnautović looked to head in the follow-up.

West Ham fans were singing for Ashley Fletcher's introduction with 10 minutes left but Bilić opted to bring on Snodgrass as Charlie Adam replaced Whelan for Stoke.

Yet none of the substitutions had an impact as the game petered out to a draw. A point each sees Stoke drop to 12th with West Ham still 14th, though several of the teams around them in the table have games in hand.

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About the author
Charlie Malam
Digital Sports Writer at the Daily Express. First-class Staffordshire University Sports Journalism graduate. Formerly VAVEL UK's Liverpool FC editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Contributor since June 2014.