Stoke does not feel like Stoke any more.
This once-notorious venue is not as hostile as it once was. The atmosphere is no longer permanently toxic towards anything not in a red-and-white-striped shirt.
At kick-off, dozens of empty red seats were on view. The strains of Delilah faded after just one verse. They are laughing no more.
Defeat leaves Paul Lambert’s men four points from safety. A decade of top-flight football looks like it is coming to an end.