West Brom vs Man City - West Brom boss Tony Pulis wants to banish relegation fears forever

Posted Saturday, October 29, 2016 by PA

West Brom boss Tony Pulis signed a one-year contract extension on Friday and insisted the Baggies must banish relegation fears forever.

The 58-year-old has committed his future to The Hawthorns until 2018 as his previous deal was due to expire in the summer.

Pulis has been at the club since January 2015 and Albion's new Chinese owners, led by businessman Guochuan Lai, have kept faith in the former Stoke manager.

The Baggies were sold by former owner Jeremy Peace to Chinese investment group Yunyi Guokai Sports Development Limited in August and Pulis admits only surviving in the Premier League is now not good enough.

Pulis said: "The football club has to find a way of getting into that top 10.

"It has to get on the track where we're giving the supporters the chance to see the club grow and grow and within a framework and a structure that isn't ridiculous where there's hundreds of millions of pounds being spent.

"Even if it's just less than B£100million, there's lots of clubs doing that and they're not successful.

"So it's important you do it in a proper way and the thing that excites me more than anything is the fact there are some fantastic young players here as well.

"We can get better, it has to get better. I'm hoping and praying we get enough points until the window and then we can improve. I'm not looking to bring lots and lots of players in, what we need to do is bring in quality."

The Baggies host Manchester City on Saturday with doubts over key men, who Pulis refused to name, and Claudio Yacob is banned although Jonny Evans will return from suspension.

Saido Berahino is unlikely to feature as he continues to regain fitness after being ruled overweight.

City have not won in their last six games, the worst run of manager Pep Guardiola's career, after Wednesday's 1-0 EFL Cup defeat to Manchester United.

"I'm pleased it's not Barcelona coming," Pulis said. "I watched Man City on Wednesday and thought they played really well.

"They made nine changes and I thought they played really well, they just fell off in the second half.

"I think he'll be bringing his first team to The Hawthorns on Saturday to make it more compelling and a more difficult game for us. It will be a game we should embrace and look forward to."

Pep Guardiola insists captain Vincent Kompany will be given every opportunity to prove his long-term value to him at Manchester City.

Kompany has had limited time to impress the new City manager after missing 11 of the opening 14 games of the season due to injury.

He has also been substituted during the last two matches as he listens to medical advice to manage his comeback from his latest lay-off - the 34th of his City career - carefully.

Aside from fitness issues there have also been questions over whether 30-year-old Kompany can adapt to the ball-playing expectations Guardiola has for his centre-backs.

But the City boss said: "All the professional players around the world can play in different styles and of course he can in my way and with our ideas.

"He has a contract. So of course (he has a future). What is the problem now about Vincent and the future?

"He is a Man City player and the reason why he didn't play the last two seasons regularly was because he was injured many, many times.

"We are trying to give him faith to play regularly. When he's fit he is going to have the same options to play as his team-mates. Then it depends on my decision (about) his quality, performance, everything."

Kompany's first attempt to come back this season ended in frustration as he walked off the the field in the last minute of the EFL Cup tie at Swansea in September. There have also been a number of occasions in the past when the Belgian has tried to play too many minutes too soon.

Guardiola said: "We decided after what happened at Swansea to try to avoid it again. We are trying to handle the situation in that way until hopefully we arrive at the moment he can play 90 minutes."

Premier League leaders City are looking to get back to winning ways at West Brom this weekend after more than a month without tasting victory. Their failure to win any of their last six games in all competitions constitutes their worst run for eight years and the worst of Guardiola's managerial career.

Opponents have successfully nullified City in recent weeks and Guardiola expects another difficult encounter at The Hawthorns.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Guardiola said: "It's long ball, it's physical. I saw their games against Tottenham and Liverpool and I realise how tough it will be.

"They will be high pressing and after that they recover the ball. They defend low, they are very compact with very good movement, (good) on the counter attack and they are very strong on set-pieces. They use his style marvellously, perfectly. We have to adapt in that way because when we have the ball they are going to adapt to us."