Tony Pulis will shake Arsene Wenger's hand, even if Stoke get hammered by Arsenal

Stoke manager Tony Pulis hopes he is not shaking Arsene Wenger's hand at the Emirates tomorrow after being on the wrong end of a hammering.

The Potters boss has already made it clear he is very much in the camp that insists rival bosses shake hands after matches, despite Wenger's refusal to grasp Manchester City boss Mark Hughes' hand after Arsenal's Carling Cup quarter-final defeat on Wednesday.

But Pulis fears any handshake will be accompanied by gritted teeth, with Arsenal looking to end a run of three straight defeats.

Arsenal have lost at Sunderland, at home to Chelsea and away to City in their last three matches, prompting claims they are in a mini-crisis.

Pulis thinks otherwise. He said: "Arsenal used a lot of their young players against Manchester City's strongest team and were beaten in the Carling Cup.

"They played good football but City scored some outstanding goals. I watched Arsenal against Chelsea last weekend and they were the better team until Chelsea scored their first.

"But then Chelsea took over. They are strong and they are the best team in the Premier League.

"Arsenal have also lost at Sunderland, and that is a difficult place to go.

"Now they will be facing us on the back of playing a second team against City, one of the strongest sides in the country and losing. Is that a crisis? I think not.

"What it will do is spur Arsene on, spur the club and their team to go out and show people what they can do. Their recent results will make them more determined, it will stir them up and Wenger will get into them."

The last time Stoke were at the Emirates they lost 4-1 at the end of last season, having produced that controversial victory over the Gunners at the Britannia stadium earlier in the campaign.

Pulis will still utilise the strengths of his side, Rory Delap's long throw, defiant defending and harassing of opponents in possession.

Pulis continued: "We have improved in lots of respects. We have had a couple of poor games and still got points. Last season when we played badly we lost games.

"This season we have been strong enough to play poorly and still get points. Away from home we have seven points from seven games, which is good.

"If we can average a point a game away from home we will be delighted. We are ahead of the target we have set ourselves.

"We are ninth in the Premier League and that is fantastic for this club."

Stoke will give Ryan Shawcross a late test on a groin problem and will be without the suspended Dean Whitehead.

But they will face the Gunners with confidence. Pulis added: "People have short memories over what this club has done in the past few years. Not so long ago we were going away to Scunthorpe, now we are travelling to the Emirates.

"The opportunity to face the top clubs at top grounds should be relished by everyone.

"We lost 4-1 there in May. The season was over and we played that way. But we have learned from that, and from the outstanding goals they scored.

"We believe we can get something there. We won at Spurs recently and nobody gave us a chance of doing that, so who knows. We will give Arsenal every respect, but we work on what we do best and try for a better result than last season there."