Stoke City: Pulis wants side to be judged on merits

TONY Pulis is urging football followers – and especially tomorrow's referee Mike Riley – to judge his team on its merits and ignore Arsene Wenger's recent attack.

Pulis is particularly keen for referees to decide for themselves and not be prejudiced by Wenger's controversial claim that Stoke players set out to intentionally injure his Arsenal stars last weekend.

"We have to re-address the situation so that people react off what they see and not what they perceive," said Pulis.

And, suspecting that Wenger's outburst was aimed at deflecting attention from Arsenal's own shortcomings, he added: "I'm just hoping that people don't take any notice of it because I think people know what Arsene was up to."

Pulis insists his players are competitive, not dirty, and will be demanding more of the same in tomorrow's more physical battle against Steve Bruce's Wigan.

"I will not change anything and I will expect them to play the same way. It's a game of challenges and they will take notice of the manager of this football club."

Wigan, for whom on-loan Egyptian striker Amr Zaki has starred with eight goals already, ended a run of four straight defeats with last Saturday's late 2-1 win at Portsmouth.

"Looking at the tapes, their performances have merited better results," Pulis cautioned. "The lad up front seems to have taken his chance and when it comes off it's brilliant.

"I'm pleased for Steve because he's a good football man and I've got a lot of time for him. Wigan are very strong, but they can play as well."

Stoke could rise as high as seventh with a win at the JJB Stadium, but Pulis warned: "It will go up and down this season and we know we have to be at full tilt in every game to get a result."