Comment by Robbie Earle

ON previous form, Arsene Wenger is more likely to offer Tony Pulis a custard pie than a glass of wine after the game at the Emirates on Sunday.

That’s a shame, because a heart-to-heart would benefit both managers.

Arsenal are big favourites to end their season with a win, but there’s still plenty they could learn from the Potters.

Arsenal have the better players and the better technique, but they won’t be title challengers again until they acquire some of the fighting spirit which Stoke have in spades.

You only have to look at the way they were bullied at the Britannia, and compare that with the performances of Chelsea and Manchester United in the Potteries.

Chelsea mixed it with Stoke before outplaying them. United didn’t play as well as Chelsea, but were prepared to get their hands dirty before finally getting a late win.

I am a fan of Wenger’s, but there’s no doubt his blind spot is his belief that everything in his team has to be beautiful.

You have to have one or two ugly things going on, that’s what makes a great side.

But just as Arsenal can learn from Stoke, so City should benefit from the experience of coming up against Wenger’s men at the Emirates.

Stoke have far exceeded expectations this year, but Pulis has already said they can’t afford to rest on their laurels.

From what I’ve seen of Stoke, the areas they need to improve on are retaining possession better and quality on the counter attack.

If the other team has the ball more than you, then you are going to be more tired towards the end of the game.

Besides, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that, while the other lot have the ball, they are more likely to score than you.

That doesn’t mean Pulis should tear up his way of playing and send his side out next season to try to pass it around, like Arsenal.

That would be suicide against better teams, but some changes are needed because other sides will adapt to Stoke’s style better than they have this season.

In fairness to Pulis, that development has already started. City have kept the ball better over the last couple of months, helped by the signings of James Beattie and Matthew Etherington, and the return to fitness of Liam Lawrence.

He’ll be looking to get more of that quality this summer, but the next major test of his management will be getting better quality players without undermining the team spirit which has helped make Stoke so successful.

He doesn’t want to be saddled with a signing from a bigger Premier League club who sees himself as the flair player and expects his team-mates to do all the donkey work.

Not everyone is going to want to mix it like an Andy Wilkinson or Ryan Shawcross, but they will at least need some fire in their bellies.

I’m not surprised TP has been on three scouting trips abroad in the last couple of weeks.

He’s admitted he doesn’t know the foreign market as well as the English one, but he’s more likely to get value for Peter Coates’s money abroad.

You only have to look at the case of Cardiff skipper Joe Ledley, a former Stoke target who is rated around the £6m mark.

I reckon that’s overpriced for someone who has never played in the Premier League.

He’s a bit like Arsenal’s Carling Cup kids who look sensational in the odd game, but can’t be judged properly until they have played 20 Premier League games on the bounce.

Arsenal won’t be fielding their Carling Cup lads on Sunday because they will want to finish on a high and make some amends for their defeat at the Britannia in November.

Too much has happened to either side since then for this to be a real grudge match, but there will still be some pride at stake.

There are some teams you just hate losing to, as I found at Wimbledon where there was a mutual animosity with Tottenham.

They saw themselves as better than us because of the way they played the game. Our answer was, if they were so good, why did they never beat us?

The rivalry got quite petty, to the point where they cut off the power in our dressing room so we couldn’t plug in our ghetto-blaster.

We sent our kit man shopping for a load of batteries, before cranking up the volume an extra notch or 10.

I can’t see Arsenal stooping that low.

Maybe they will just play their own music to compete with Stoke’s. “I Hate Every-thing About You,” by Ugly Kid Joe, perhaps?