Mark Hughes hopes Marko Arnautovic will start scoring on a regular basis after he found the net with a spectacular strike in Stoke’s 2-0 win over Manchester United.

Hughes has been trying to get Arnautovic to shoot more often and, on the basis of Saturday’s performance against United, it is easy to see why.

After Bojan Krkic’s free-kick bounced off the wall and dropped into his path, the Austrian forward drove a fierce shot past David de Gea into the top corner for Stoke’s second.

Marko Arnautovic (left) smashes home the second against Manchester United on Saturday

The Stoke City winger is in excellent form this season and scored his sixth of the campaign 

The exquisite strike took Arnautovic’s goal tally to six for the season. The 26-year-old only managed five league goals in his previous two years at the Britannia Stadium and Hughes hopes this will help encourage the forward to try his luck more often in front of goal.

‘We tell him until we are blue in the face to shoot more, to be perfectly honest, because he has great power,’ the Potters manager told Stoke Player.

‘Maybe that (goal) will encourage him. He had a number of chances. He could have scored more. In terms of clear-cut chances, we were well ahead of United and deserved the win.’

It would be hard to find anyone in the crowd at the Britannia who disagreed with Hughes’ assessment.

United were woeful from the first whistle. Memphis Depay’s error allowed Glen Johnson to find Bojan in the box and he did not miss from eight yards.

Manager Mark Hughes wants the Austrian international to start shooting more 

And when Arnautovic rifled his long-range drive past De Gea in the 26th minute, there was no way back for United, who are now seven games without a win.

Hughes, who spent 13 successful years on the playing staff at United, felt his team capitalised on the visitors’ poor form perfectly.

The Welshman added: ‘If you are having a bit of a stumble in your league performances the opposition can take advantage of that and I think that is what has happened to United (on Saturday).’

Spanish maestro Bojan (left) taps home the opener following an error from Memphis Depay

Unfortunately for Hughes and his men, there is no time to enjoy the win.

The Potters play Everton at Goodison Park on Monday knowing victory will lift them into the top half of the Barclays Premier League.

Everton may have lost just one of their last 10 matches, but Hughes feels his team will head to Merseyside full of confidence after claiming another big scalp.

‘We are playing well so it’s a game we look forward to,’ said Hughes, who has overseen wins over United, Manchester City and Chelsea this term.

Xherdan Shaqiri (left) picked up a knock against United but should feature against Everton 

‘There’s a demand on Everton to go forward and be progressive and have a go so that may well play into our hands, hopefully.’

Xherdan Shaqiri, Geoff Cameron and Glenn Whelan came off with slight injuries in the Boxing Day match, but all three could be fit for the game at Everton.

‘Xherdan will be okay and Geoff had a little bit of tightness, but we are hopeful that he will be okay in time for the game on Monday,’ Hughes added.

‘Glenn felt his calf a bit at half-time so we took him off. It was the right thing to do.’