Defiant De Gea passes Stoke's physical examination at The Britannia

Such are the ongoing perceptions of frailty that swirl around David de Gea, Stoke City manager Tony Pulis was keen last week to find out if the Spanish goalkeeper would play against his team for Manchester United on Saturday.

But if Pulis believed De Gea’s presence in goal for United would in any way weaken the Barclays Premier League champions’ resilience to some of Stoke’s more direct play at the Britannia Stadium then he was wrong.

De Gea was certainly not perfect on Saturday. This, however, was perhaps his best game since joining United and team-mate Darren Fletcher feels the young goalkeeper has now taken a huge step forward as he looks to establish himself as a worthy successor to Edwin van der Sar.

Not intimidated: David de Gea dealt with all that Stoke threw at him

Fletcher said: 'He did fantastic, but he has been performing fantastic anyway.

'We showed him plenty of videos and there was a lot of preparation going into the game, showing him what to expect.

'But it didn’t faze him and he stood up to the challenge.

'Stoke are a big, physical side, with a lot of players over six foot and, on the whole, a lot of players stood up to that and did really wel

'I don’t think you get much more physical games than away to Stoke. They bombard you with balls into the box, set-pieces and corners, but David dealt with it well and he will take a lot of confidence from that performance, which was a bit of a welcome to English football.'

De Gea made three good saves as United and Stoke played out a deserved draw but is likely to be rested on Tuesday night when United host Basle of Switzerland in the Champions League. The Dane Anders Lindegaard is expected to play in that game.

Disappointed: Darren Fletcher was unhappy about giving away the lead

With Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez facing short injury lay-offs, Tuesday’s team will once again be very different than the one that took the lead at Stoke, only to be pegged back.

Fletcher added:'I think it was a point earned when you consider the games that Stoke have had here this season.

'Liverpool and Chelsea have come here and not won, but with us being in a winning position and losing a goal from a set-piece, we’re disappointed.'