Junior Stanislas scored one and made the other as Bournemouth picked up their second league win of the season, to heap further pressure on Stoke boss Mark Hughes.
Hughes' side lost for the fifth time in six games against the struggling Cherries, and now find themselves sucked deeper into the relegation mire.
Eddie Howe's men, with just one win to their name in their opening eight league games, took the lead after 16 minutes in the Potteries, after good work from Stanislas to tee up Andrew Surman, who beat Jack Butland.
The visitors doubled their lead two minutes later. Benik Afobe was hacked down in the box by Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross and Stanislas stepped up to convert the resulting penalty for his first goal of the season.
Stoke went more direct in the second half and were rewarded with a goal through Mame Biram Diouf.
But Hughes' side failed to create much more having reduced the arrears and succumbed to another defeat on home soil.
Stoke: Butland; Cameron, Shawcross, Zouma; Johnson, Fletcher, Allen, Pieters; Choupo-Moting, Jese; Diouf.
Bournemouth: Begovic, Adam Smith, Francis, Ake, Daniels, Stanislas, Lewis Cook, Surman, Ibe, Mousset, Afobe
Follow all the action as it happened below...
Everything going to plan for Bournemouth.
They’re heading for their first away win.
Stoke meanwhile have been shocking!
A little while after referee Craig Pawson had brought a merciful end to Mark Hughes’ misery, Pep Guardiola was told the Stoke manager was on the lookout for him.
It was nothing sinister.
“I thought the least he could do after that was get me a stiff drink,” said Hughes.
Pep poured a glass and the pair chewed the fat for 20 minutes.
They probably skimmed over the 7-2 drubbing that had just unfolded, but, had it been discussed, Hughes might just have said it was the sort of lopsided match the Premier League should become more accustomed to.
Hughes believes the gap between the elite clubs and the rest is becoming wider, explaining: “Up to this point, the Premier League has probably been the most competitive league but this year has been different.
“That distance between the elite clubs at the top and the rest of us has got bigger.”