diff --git a/cmd/controller-manager/main.go b/cmd/controller-manager/main.go
index 746026eea4..8144f2d73a 100644
--- a/cmd/controller-manager/main.go
+++ b/cmd/controller-manager/main.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller/autoscaler"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller/backup"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller/backupschedule"
+	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller/periodicity"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller/restore"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller/tidbcluster"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller/tidbinitializer"
@@ -190,6 +191,12 @@ func main() {
 		bsController := backupschedule.NewController(kubeCli, cli, informerFactory, kubeInformerFactory)
 		tidbInitController := tidbinitializer.NewController(kubeCli, cli, genericCli, informerFactory, kubeInformerFactory)
 		tidbMonitorController := tidbmonitor.NewController(kubeCli, genericCli, informerFactory, kubeInformerFactory)
+
+		var periodicityController *periodicity.Controller
+		if controller.PodWebhookEnabled {
+			periodicityController = periodicity.NewController(kubeCli, informerFactory, kubeInformerFactory)
+		}
+
 		var autoScalerController *autoscaler.Controller
 		if features.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.AutoScaling) {
 			autoScalerController = autoscaler.NewController(kubeCli, cli, informerFactory, kubeInformerFactory)
@@ -216,6 +223,9 @@ func main() {
 		go wait.Forever(func() { bsController.Run(workers, ctx.Done()) }, waitDuration)
 		go wait.Forever(func() { tidbInitController.Run(workers, ctx.Done()) }, waitDuration)
 		go wait.Forever(func() { tidbMonitorController.Run(workers, ctx.Done()) }, waitDuration)
+		if controller.PodWebhookEnabled {
+			go wait.Forever(func() { periodicityController.Run(ctx.Done()) }, waitDuration)
+		}
 		if features.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.AutoScaling) {
 			go wait.Forever(func() { autoScalerController.Run(workers, ctx.Done()) }, waitDuration)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/controller/periodicity/periodicity_controller.go b/pkg/controller/periodicity/periodicity_controller.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a42a29383e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/controller/periodicity/periodicity_controller.go
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+// Copyright 2018 PingCAP, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+// Package periodicity dedicate the periodicity controller.
+// This controller updates StatefulSets managed by our operator periodically.
+// This is necessary when the pod admission webhook is used. Because we will
+// deny pod deletion requests if the pod is not ready for deletion. However,
+// retry duration on StatefulSet in its controller grows exponentially on
+// failures. So we need to update StatefulSets to trigger events, then they
+// will be put into the process queue of StatefulSet controller constantly.
+// Refer to https://github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pull/1875 and
+// https://github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/issues/1846 for more details.
+package periodicity
+
+import (
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/apis/pingcap/v1alpha1"
+	informers "github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/client/informers/externalversions"
+	v1alpha1listers "github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/client/listers/pingcap/v1alpha1"
+	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/controller"
+	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/label"
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
+	kubeinformers "k8s.io/client-go/informers"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
+	eventv1 "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/typed/core/v1"
+	appslisters "k8s.io/client-go/listers/apps/v1"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/record"
+	"k8s.io/klog"
+)
+
+type Controller struct {
+	stsLister          appslisters.StatefulSetLister
+	tcLister           v1alpha1listers.TidbClusterLister
+	statefulSetControl controller.StatefulSetControlInterface
+}
+
+func NewController(
+	kubeCli kubernetes.Interface,
+	informerFactory informers.SharedInformerFactory,
+	kubeInformerFactory kubeinformers.SharedInformerFactory) *Controller {
+
+	eventBroadcaster := record.NewBroadcaster()
+	eventBroadcaster.StartLogging(klog.Infof)
+	eventBroadcaster.StartRecordingToSink(&eventv1.EventSinkImpl{
+		Interface: eventv1.New(kubeCli.CoreV1().RESTClient()).Events("")})
+	recorder := eventBroadcaster.NewRecorder(v1alpha1.Scheme, corev1.EventSource{Component: "periodiciy-controller"})
+	stsLister := kubeInformerFactory.Apps().V1().StatefulSets().Lister()
+
+	return &Controller{
+		tcLister:           informerFactory.Pingcap().V1alpha1().TidbClusters().Lister(),
+		statefulSetControl: controller.NewRealStatefuSetControl(kubeCli, stsLister, recorder),
+		stsLister:          stsLister,
+	}
+
+}
+
+func (c *Controller) Run(stopCh <-chan struct{}) {
+	klog.Infof("Staring periodicity controller")
+	defer klog.Infof("Shutting down periodicity controller")
+	wait.Until(c.run, time.Minute, stopCh)
+}
+
+func (c *Controller) run() {
+	var errs []error
+	if err := c.syncStatefulSetTimeStamp(); err != nil {
+		errs = append(errs, err)
+	}
+	if len(errs) > 0 {
+		klog.Errorf("error happened in periodicity controller,err:%v", errors.NewAggregate(errs))
+	}
+}
+
+// in this sync function, we update all stateful sets the operator managed and log errors
+func (c *Controller) syncStatefulSetTimeStamp() error {
+	selector, err := label.New().Selector()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	stsList, err := c.stsLister.List(selector)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var errs []error
+	for _, sts := range stsList {
+		// If there is any error during our sts annotation updating, we just collect the error
+		// and continue to next sts
+		if sts.Annotations == nil {
+			sts.Annotations = map[string]string{}
+		}
+		if sts.Labels == nil {
+			sts.Labels = map[string]string{}
+		}
+		tcName, ok := sts.Labels[label.InstanceLabelKey]
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		tc, err := c.tcLister.TidbClusters(sts.Namespace).Get(tcName)
+		if err != nil {
+			errs = append(errs, err)
+			continue
+		}
+		sts.Annotations[label.AnnStsLastSyncTimestamp] = time.Now().Format(time.RFC3339)
+		newSts, err := c.statefulSetControl.UpdateStatefulSet(tc, sts)
+		if err != nil {
+			klog.Errorf("failed to update statefulset %q, error: %v", sts.Name, err)
+			errs = append(errs, err)
+		}
+		klog.Infof("successfully updated statefulset %q", newSts.Name)
+	}
+	return errors.NewAggregate(errs)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/label/label.go b/pkg/label/label.go
index b67fa2339f..4917eb3658 100644
--- a/pkg/label/label.go
+++ b/pkg/label/label.go
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ const (
 	AnnEvictLeaderBeginTime = "tidb.pingcap.com/evictLeaderBeginTime"
 	// AnnPodDeferDeleting is pod annotation key to indicate the pod which need to be restarted
 	AnnPodDeferDeleting = "tidb.pingcap.com/pod-defer-deleting"
+	// AnnStsSyncTimestamp is sts annotation key to indicate the last timestamp the operator sync the sts
+	AnnStsLastSyncTimestamp = "tidb.pingcap.com/sync-timestamp"
 
 	// AnnForceUpgradeVal is tc annotation value to indicate whether force upgrade should be done
 	AnnForceUpgradeVal = "true"
diff --git a/pkg/manager/member/utils.go b/pkg/manager/member/utils.go
index 2c83627d0e..26d23490f8 100644
--- a/pkg/manager/member/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/manager/member/utils.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ import (
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-
 	"github.com/BurntSushi/toml"
 	"github.com/pingcap/advanced-statefulset/pkg/apis/apps/v1/helper"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb-operator/pkg/apis/pingcap/v1alpha1"
@@ -281,6 +280,10 @@ func updateStatefulSet(setCtl controller.StatefulSetControlInterface, tc *v1alph
 			set.Spec.Template.Annotations[LastAppliedConfigAnnotation] = podConfig
 		}
 		set.Annotations = newSet.Annotations
+		v, ok := oldSet.Annotations[label.AnnStsLastSyncTimestamp]
+		if ok {
+			set.Annotations[label.AnnStsLastSyncTimestamp] = v
+		}
 		*set.Spec.Replicas = *newSet.Spec.Replicas
 		set.Spec.UpdateStrategy = newSet.Spec.UpdateStrategy
 		if isOrphan {