Everton remain in the bottom half of the Premier League following a disappointing 1-0 loss at home to Stoke City this afternoon.

John Stones's return to the side almost began in disastrous fashion as he gifted the ball to Bojan in the ninth minute, but Mame Biram Diouf fired straight at Tim Howard after being set free by his strike partner.

Neither side were able to find any rhythm in an injury-disrupted first 25 minutes, with a number of players from both sides receiving treatment.

Gareth Barry was then presented with a glorious chance, but the midfielder skewed his close-range shot wide at the far post.

His miss proved costly as Bojan slotted the ball home from the spot three minutes later after the Spaniard was bundled over by James McCarthy inside the box.

Despite 10 minutes of first-half stoppage time, Everton were unable to break down Stoke as the visitors entered the break a goal ahead.

Roberto Martinez was forced to withdraw Phil Jagielka and Howard at half time as Everton's problems continued to mount.

Their only chance in the opening minutes of the second half fell the way of Ross Barkley, but the youngster's 25-yard strike flew harmlessly over the bar.

They slowly grew into the game though, and Romelu Lukaku drew a save from Asmir Begovic before Leighton Baines struck a fierce effort towards goal which the Bosnian stopper did well to turn behind.

However, Stoke continued to be a threat when they went forward and Steven Nzonzi fired a shot wide after a surging run.

Lukaku tested Begovic once more in the closing stages, but Stoke defended valiantly to hold on to their third away victory of the season.