Stoke then had another away game this time at League Cup finalists Birmingham City at St Andrews. It was a poor match which seemed destined for a 0–0 draw however Birmingham stole the points with the final kick of the match through Nikola Žigić. After beating Brighton in the FA Cup Stoke travelled to London to face Arsenal in a re-arranged fixture. Stoke made a poor start to the match as the home side almost scored after two minutes as Theo Walcott hit the post. Arsenal did take the lead soon after through defender Sébastien Squillaci, as expected Arsenal controlled the play however Stoke defended well and restricted the Gunners from extending their lead. City were more of a threat in the second half with Pennant, Carew and Huth going close to an equaliser as Stoke were left to rue their slow start to the match. The match against West Brom was moved to Monday night for live TV coverage, it turned out to be a very disappointing contest. There was little action in the first half with Pennant hitting the crossbar from a freekick the only meaningful attempt on goal. Stoke took the lead through a rare goal from Rory Delap, Baggies substitute Carlos Vela equalised late on. A point was no less than West Brom deserved but they could have had all three had it not been for a fine performance from Begović who saved four shots in the final thirty seconds of the match. Pulis described his team's performance as the worst of the season. Stoke produced another abject away performance at West Ham and goals from Demba Ba, Manuel da Costa and Thomas Hitzlsperger ensured an easy win for the Hammers. The defeat left Stoke four points above the relegation zone. After victory in the FA Cup Quarter against West Ham there was great excitement amongst supporters for the important game against Newcastle. Cup hero Danny Higginbotham returned to the starting eleven at the expense of Danny Pugh whilst John Carew was ruled out due to injury. Stoke took the lead just before the half-hour mark Ryan Shawcross laid the ball to Pennant on the right and his cross was glanced in by Jonathan Walters. Newcastle came back strongly and twice came close to equalising and were twice denied by Higginbotham. However Stoke quickly ended the match as a contest after the half time break with two quick goals. The first came after a Steve Harper failed to clear under pressure from Kenwyne Jones and he picked out Matthew Etherington on the left, whose delivery was guided into the net Pennant from about six yards out who scored his first City goal.