TONY PULIS believes that Stoke City will have to combat "something very special" if they are to get a result at Aston Villa on Saturday.
City's manager described the tussle for places in Fabio Capello's World Cup squad as a manager's dream for his opposite number Martin O'Neill as he prepares to take his side to Villa Park.
Pulis says that O'Neill has five players pushing for a place on the plane to South Africa and that is a driving force behind their current form.
"Martin has something very special there because five of his front six are in with a chance of going to the World Cup Finals," he commented.
"Heskey, Agbonlahor, Young, Milner and Downing are all English and they are all fighting for a place in Fabio Capello's World Cup plans.
"They don't need any more motivation with that prospect ahead of them, so it's little wonder that Villa are flying at the moment."
The trip to Villa Park is the first of two difficult away matches for the Potters who follow that up with a visit to Manchester City on Boxing Day.
But as Pulis stated: "We have consistently produced stronger away performances this season and achieved some fine results.
"We know it is going to be very tough the way Villa are playing, but nobody gave us a prayer at Tottenham and we won there.
"We just know we will have to be at our very best, and will probably need a bit of good fortune as well, to get any result."
