STOKE City have £2.4million reasons for consigning Wanderers to the Championship this Sunday.

That’s the amount Tony Pulis’s team stand to profit if they claim victory at the Britannia Stadium, matching their best-ever Premier League points tally and potentially climbing up three places into 11th.

Much has been made of the fact the Potters have little riding on the result – which could in itself prove meaningless if Manchester City fail to beat QPR at the Etihad Stadium.

But Ryan Shawcrosss, pictured, the no-nonsense Stoke centre half, insists that his team will not be rolling over.

“There’s a lot on the game for us as well,” he said.

“We are professional footballers and we always want to win games, but we also want to equal our best points tally in the Premier League. However desperate they are for three points, we are even more so.”

Not only do Stoke have the financial incentive to keep their focus this Sunday,they will also still be smarting from the 5-0 defeat they incurred at the Reebok Stadium earlier this season.

Chris Eagles – who played alongside Shawcross in the youth ranks at Manchester United – has also warned that his former team-mate is unlikely to be in a giving mood.

Shawcross was outstanding for the Potters in their 2-0 home victory over the Whites last January, and Eagles believes he again offers a major obstacle to success at the Britannia.

“I know him quite well,” he said. “I spent a little bit of time with him at Manchester United and we were all brought up winning games. We weren’t used to losing and he’s the kind of player who doesn’t like losing any game.

“He was always a 100 per cent kind of player at United and since he left and went to Stoke his career has taken off. “