Wigan boss Steve Bruce praised Stoke's defending after the goalless draw at the JJB Stadium on Saturday. Bruce told Sky Sports: "Full credit to Stoke, they've got a game plan which is obviously to frustrate people, they sit in there and make it difficult for you and if we had played until midnight I don't think we would have scored.

"And always in the back of your mind you're thinking to yourself, I hope there's not going to be another Middlesbrough a couple of weeks ago because that set us back.

"We just found it impossible to break them through and you need to score - you needed to score to bring them out and let them be a bit more adventurous, obviously we didn't do that."

He added: "We just needed that little bit of quality, or little pass but to be fair to Stoke, they defended very, very resolutely and stuck to their task, it was difficult to play against."

Arsene Wenger had criticised Stoke after the Gunners lost to the Potters last week but Bruce had no complaints with Pulis' side himself.

"They are going to be big and physical and strong and aggressive and they are fighting for their life to play in the Premier League and there's no complaints from me," he said.