Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has claimed that his side can only do their best when coming up against the league's top teams.

Stoke travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United tomorrow, completing a tough run of games in which they have also faced Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

Pulis believes that matches against such teams are not played on a level playing field, but insists that his side will not go down without a fight.

"The most important thing is that you go out there and do your best, but it is not a level playing field when you are playing against the top six or seven sides - you just look at the players they have, the money they have spent and their turnover compared to other clubs in the Premier League," said Pulis.

"United are one of those sides, but we will go up there and do our best - it is all we can do."

Stoke have lost all four of their matches against United at Old Trafford since their promotion in 2008.