Pulis keen to keep unbeaten record against Liverpool

Ian Watson

Tony Pulis hopes to remain a bogey boss for Liverpool when his West Brom side host the Reds on Sunday.

Pulis has never lost a home game to Liverpool during his time as a Premier League manager with Stoke, Crystal Palace and West Brom.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have struggled this season against the so-called lesser teams, having been beaten on the road at Burnley, Bournemouth, Hull and Leicester, while only drawing at Sunderland.

However, if Albion are to add their name to the list of sides to claim Liverpool’s scalp they will need to score a goal for the first time in four matches. Should they fail to find the net, Pulis’ players will earn themselves an unwanted record of becoming the first West Brom team since Gary Megson’s relegated 2002-03 squad to go four top-flight matches without scoring.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t bring that up,” said Pulis.

“But let’s hope that record (against Liverpool) continues this weekend as well.

“They are just a team I have always done well against. In comparison with Arsenal, I’ve always done well when I’ve played against Arsenal at home.

“You get the team organised and well set up and let them enjoy the challenge, irrespective of whether it’s Liverpool, Leicester or Chelsea.”

West Brom have exceeded all expectations this season, sitting eighth in the Premier League table

It looks like Albion will miss out on a place in the Europa League for next season but Pulis wants his team to finish as high up the table as possible to help him attract players in the summer.

Pulis is already planning for the 2017-18 campaign and he would like to get his transfer business done early.

He said: “The target is to get as many points as we can and make this club as attractive as we can.

“Next weekend we’ve obviously got the Man City game that has been cancelled (due to the FA Cup) and every member of staff will be out watching games.

“We’re planning already for next year, we’re trying to put plans in place, we don’t want to be behind the ball game. We want to target players as early as we can before the mad season starts.

“It’s difficult getting them in the door early because you have to negotiate deals, process and everything else, but we will do our best.

“The most important thing is to target the ones we want and be very clever with what we do because we haven’t got the finances other clubs have got.

“But we need the players in and that’s the bottom line. We need to be bringing a few players in.”