West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City won promotion last season but that is where the similarities end. While Tony Mowbray hopes to produce a side capable of emulating Arsenal, Stoke have been upsetting rather than copying the country's leading clubs with their uncompromising style. Neither approach guarantees survival in the Premier League but before tomorrow's meeting at the Britannia Stadium a pattern has emerged where Albion are winning plenty of friends while Stoke pick up more points.

The fixture is not quite football's equivalent of Beauty and the Beast but the contrast between the two sides could hardly be starker. While Albion favour a patient passing game that encourages players to retain possession until an opening is created, Stoke have collected an impressive four wins from six matches at home due in no small part to their full-blooded and high-tempo approach to the game, which has bruised a few egos, as well as one or two Arsenal ankles, according to Arsène Wenger.

Mowbray is too respectful of Tony Pulis's success to criticise Stoke's methods but not everyone at The Hawthorns has been so diplomatic. "Stoke train with cannons rescued from local medieval ruins," said an anonymous match report in an Albion programme last season. "Footballs are loaded into them and fired into the distance for [Mamady] Sidibe to head and [Ricardo] Fuller to run after. It's a game plan that squeezes the life out of what used to be known as football."

Not surprisingly the comments irk Pulis, who strongly rejects accusations that Stoke are a one-dimensional long-ball side. "Tony wants to go one way, that's fine. But I think we play good football at this club," said the Stoke manager. "I don't think we just boot it from back to front. I think we're better than that. I think you're pigeon-holing us into something we're not. If you're saying we're going to play like Manchester United, then we're going to have to buy the players that Manchester United have got.

"What did Wimbledon do for 12 or so years? What you've got to do is play to your strengths and the players you can afford and the players you can work with and we've got a certain style of football," continued Pulis, who then drew a comparison that might surprise some. "I think we play football. We play it in a way where we play through teams. I don't think we play across, backwards and square; we actually play through teams. And if you go and watch Aston Villa, I think they do exactly the same."

Mowbray stated recently that those teams adopting a direct approach "might have one great season" but could not expect to enjoy long-term success. "You can never have consistency playing long-ball and knock downs," said the Albion manager. "You are hoping it drops for you, whereas if you are playing a precision game and playing off the back foot and creating angles and making clever runs, the opposition have got to work hard to stop that because it's not by accident that it happens."

He was careful to claim yesterday, however, that he was not applying his theory to Stoke, with the Albion manager suggesting that Rory Delap's ability to throw the ball such huge distances made Pulis's side a different proposition from others that have failed with the long-ball approach. "Watford didn't have enough of the ball and kept giving it back to good teams and got hurt," explained Mowbray. "Stoke, possibly with this extra weapon they've got [in Delap], are finding it easier because a throw-in in the attacking half of the pitch puts teams under pressure."

Albion have found it much more difficult to trouble opposition defences, with the 10 goals they have scored this season the lowest tally in the division, highlighting their shortcomings in the final third. Stoke have hardly been prolific in comparison and are only three points above Albion, who lie at the bottom of the table, yet their victories over Arsenal and Aston Villa highlight the problems their modus operandi can present and also suggest that they could be the more likely of the two to avoid relegation.

"Both managers have stuck to their principles and stuck to their styles of play," added the Albion manager. "Time will tell which team survives, prospers and goes on. But I understand you have got to win football matches. If you don't win football matches, you leave yourself open to what is right or wrong. The bigger picture with me is that I don't really care. I know what I do and that won't change. I'm trying to play good football, create good habits and improve players."

Different approaches

The uncompromising

Bolton Wanderers, 2001-02

Despite signing the classy Youri Djorkaeff, below, Bolton mine a rich vein by skying the ball towards Michael Ricketts.

Watford, 2006-07

Losing Ashley Young to Aston Villa mid-season didn't help, but 29 goals in 38 games suggests a team intent on destroying, not creating.

The entertainers

Reading, 2006-07

Steve Sidwell, Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt, Nicky Shorey, James Harper... Steve Coppell had plenty of reasons to encourage a passing game.

Ipswich Town, 2000-01

George Burley's Tractor Boys pass their way into Europe as he wins manager of the season and Titus Bramble is considered a future England star. Halcyon days indeed.

Sir Alex Ferguson's injury problems have escalated after it emerged last night that Wes Brown could be facing a significant period on the sidelines while Dimitar Berbatov could miss the next three games.

Brown is understood to have undergone surgery on the ankle injury that has ruled him out for the past month, whereas Berbatov suffered a thigh strain in Bulgaria's friendly against Serbia on Wednesday, joining an injury list at Old Trafford that includes Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves.