diff --git a/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing.go b/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing.go
index a3f85f41f3..e2ae6a9b45 100644
--- a/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing.go
+++ b/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing.go
@@ -103,11 +103,23 @@ func walkMap(pattern, resource *yaml.RNode) error {
 			if ind == -1 {
 				continue
 			}
-
+             
 			// remove anchor tags from value
 			// A MappingNode contains keyNode and Value node
 			// keyNode contains it's key value in it's Value field, So remove anchor tags from Value field
 			pattern.YNode().Content[ind].Value = removeAnchor(key)
+			// If the field exists in resource, then remove the field from pattern
+			_, resFields, err := getAnchorSortedFields(resource)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			rInd := getIndex(removeAnchor(key), resFields)
+			if rInd != -1 {
+				// remove anchor field from the map and update fields
+				removeAnchorNode(pattern, ind)
+				sfields = removeKeyFromFields(key, sfields)
+				fields = removeKeyFromFields(key, fields)
+			}
 		}
 		noAnchorKey := removeAnchor(key)
 		patternMapNode := pattern.Field(noAnchorKey)
diff --git a/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing_test.go b/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing_test.go
index b5c1d8ef9e..93ea79100f 100644
--- a/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing_test.go
+++ b/pkg/engine/mutate/strategicPreprocessing_test.go
@@ -9,11 +9,99 @@ import (
 )
 
 func Test_preProcessStrategicMergePatch(t *testing.T) {
-	rawPolicy := []byte(`{"metadata":{"+(annotations)":{"+(annotation1)":"atest1"},"labels":{"+(label1)":"test1"}},"spec":{"(volumes)":[{"(hostPath)":{"path":"/var/run/docker.sock"}}],"containers":[{"(image)":"*:latest","command":["ls"],"imagePullPolicy":"Always"}]}}`)
+	rawPolicy := []byte(`{"metadata":{"annotations":{"+(annotation1)":"atest1", "+(annotation2)":"atest2"},"labels":{"+(label1)":"test1"}},"spec":{"(volumes)":[{"(hostPath)":{"path":"/var/run/docker.sock"}}],"containers":[{"(image)":"*:latest","command":["ls"],"imagePullPolicy":"Always"}]}}`)
 
 	rawResource := []byte(`{"apiVersion":"v1","kind":"Pod","metadata":{"annotations":{"annotation1":"atest2"},"labels":{"label1":"test2","label2":"test2"},"name":"check-root-user"},"spec":{"containers":[{"command":["ll"],"image":"nginx:latest","imagePullPolicy":"Never","name":"nginx"},{"image":"busybox:latest","imagePullPolicy":"Never","name":"busybox"}],"volumes":[{"hostPath":{"path":"/var/run/docker.sock"},"name":"test-volume"}]}}`)
 
-	expected := `{"metadata": {"annotations": {"annotation1": "atest1"}, "labels": {"label1": "test1"}},"spec": {"containers": [{"command": ["ls", "ll"], "imagePullPolicy": "Always", "name": "nginx"},{"command": ["ls"], "imagePullPolicy": "Always", "name": "busybox"}]}}`
+	expected := `{"metadata": {"annotations": {"annotation2":"atest2"}, "labels": {}},"spec": {"containers": [{"command": ["ls", "ll"], "imagePullPolicy": "Always", "name": "nginx"},{"command": ["ls"], "imagePullPolicy": "Always", "name": "busybox"}]}}`
+
+	preProcessedPolicy, err := preProcessStrategicMergePatch(string(rawPolicy), string(rawResource))
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+	output, err := preProcessedPolicy.String()
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+	re := regexp.MustCompile("\\n")
+	if !assertnew.Equal(t, strings.ReplaceAll(expected, " ", ""), strings.ReplaceAll(re.ReplaceAllString(output, ""), " ", "")) {
+		t.FailNow()
+	}
+}
+
+func Test_preProcessStrategicMergePatch_Deployment(t *testing.T) {
+	rawPolicy := []byte(`"spec": {
+						  "template": {
+							 "spec": {
+								"containers": [
+								   {
+									  "(name)": "*",
+									  "resources": {
+										 "limits": {
+											"+(memory)": "300Mi",
+											"+(cpu)": "100"
+										 }
+									  }
+								   }
+								]
+							 }
+						  }
+					   }`)
+
+	rawResource := []byte(`{
+		"apiVersion": "apps/v1",
+		"kind": "Deployment",
+		"metadata": {
+		   "name": "qos-demo",
+		   "labels": {
+			  "test": "qos"
+		   }
+		},
+		"spec": {
+		   "replicas": 1,
+		   "selector": {
+			  "matchLabels": {
+				 "app": "nginx"
+			  }
+		   },
+		   "template": {
+			  "metadata": {
+				 "labels": {
+					"app": "nginx"
+				 }
+			  },
+			  "spec": {
+				 "containers": [
+					{
+					   "name": "nginx",
+					   "image": "nginx:latest",
+					   "resources": {
+						  "limits": {
+							 "cpu": "50m"
+						  }
+					   }
+					}
+				 ]
+			  }
+		   }
+		}
+	 }`)
+
+	expected := `"spec":{"template":{"spec":{"containers":[{"resources":{"limits":{"memory":"300Mi"}},"name":"nginx"}]}}}`
+
+	preProcessedPolicy, err := preProcessStrategicMergePatch(string(rawPolicy), string(rawResource))
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+	output, err := preProcessedPolicy.String()
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+	re := regexp.MustCompile("\\n")
+	if !assertnew.Equal(t, strings.ReplaceAll(expected, " ", ""), strings.ReplaceAll(re.ReplaceAllString(output, ""), " ", "")) {
+		t.FailNow()
+	}
+}
+
+
+func Test_preProcessStrategicMergePatch_Annotation(t *testing.T) {
+	rawPolicy := []byte(`{"metadata":{"annotations":{"+(cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict)":true}},"spec":{"volumes":[{"(hostPath)":{"path":"*"}}]}}`)
+
+	rawResource := []byte(`{"kind":"Pod","apiVersion":"v1","metadata":{"name":"nginx","annotations":{"cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict":"false"}},"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"nginx","image":"nginx:latest","imagePullPolicy":"Never","volumeMounts":[{"mountPath":"/cache","name":"cache-volume"}]}],"volumes":[{"name":"cache-volume","hostPath":{"path":"/data","type":"Directory"}}]}}`)
+
+	expected := `{"metadata":{"annotations":{}},"spec":{"volumes":[{"name":"cache-volume"}]}}`
 
 	preProcessedPolicy, err := preProcessStrategicMergePatch(string(rawPolicy), string(rawResource))
 	assert.NilError(t, err)