Pulis: Focusing on strengths

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Stoke manager Tony Pulis is wary of an Arsenal backlash when the Gunners visit the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

Arsenal have already been beaten at home by fellow Premier League new-boys Hull and dropped more points against Tottenham on Wednesday.

The Gunners conceded two goals in the last five minutes to let their local rivals salvage a dramatic 4-4 draw and Arsene Wenger's men will be determined to make amends.

Confidence is high at Stoke, though, after the Potters produced their best performance of the season to beat Sunderland 1-0 and claim their second straight home win.

"There are two ways of looking at it," said Pulis.

"Some people might say we can hit them while they are down, but when you talk about Arsenal, you talk about top quality players.

"They are a very fluid team and play outstanding football which we all admire. They can cut you to bits and we will have to do our best to make sure they don't do that to us.

Hurt

"They will be hurt after what happened the other night and I'm sure they will be desperate to bounce back."

There has been much attention on the damage done by Rory Delap's long throw-ins since Stoke's return to the top flight.

But Pulis insists that is not the only means of attack Arsenal should worry about.

"What we must do is concentrate on what we are good at," he said. "Arsenal are fantastic at keeping the ball and there are going to be times in the game when we will just have to stay organised and tight.

"But we've created chances in every game we've played and when we've got the ball, we will be playing to our strengths.

"Everybody seems to be focusing on Rory Delap's throw-ins, but we've also played a lot of good football and created a lot of opportunities from open play.

"We are at home in front of our fantastic supporters and we are approaching the game positively. The fans will demand we have a go and we certainly will."