Tony Pulis needs victory as West Brom pressure mounts
Not since Tony Pulis first set foot inside The Hawthorns at the beginning of 2015 has his need for a win been so great – or, at the very least, a positive performance.
Defeat against West Ham might not prove fatal but would certainly add to the pressure which has mounted steadily on the Welshman during a miserable run of just one win in 14 games dating back to the end of last season.
Throw in a summer which delivered nowhere near the signings supporters, or the head coach for that matter, had been expecting and it is easy to imagine The Hawthorns could quickly become quite a hostile place should things take a turn for the worse against the Hammers.
What should be a mood of celebration for the first official game of the Guochaun Lai era could well prove quite the opposite.
Little wonder, then, to see Pulis, who felt the full force of visiting supporters during last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth, was happy to adopt a somewhat conciliatory tone this week.
"We all need to get together," he said. "We are the highest ranked team in the West Midlands and let's stay that way. We need the supporters."
As well placed as the head coach's sentiment might be, there is also no disguising the hostility which erupted at the Vitality Stadium had been bubbling under the surface for far longer than just a few weeks.
The last time Pulis entered into a home game under such a cloud was in February, when Crystal Palace were the visitors just seven days on from the FA Cup meltdown at Reading, when Chris Brunt had been hit by a coin thrown by one of his own fans.
A 3-2 victory against Palace transformed the mood and was followed by a draw at Leicester and victory over Manchester United which meant Albion were as good as safe after the first weekend in March.
Pulis's men actually took 10 points during that spell having beaten Everton a week before the Cup defeat. Results either side of that sequence have been rather less spectacular. Since the turn of the year, Albion have won just five out of 24 Premier League games, taking a total of just 24 points.
The win against Palace in February featured a sublime goal from Saido Berahino and there would be a certain irony if the striker, who has been such an enigmatic figure during most of Pulis' reign, were the one to provide respite from the boo-boys once again.
Berahino had Albion's best chances during the defeat at Bournemouth and Pulis believes the 23-year-old is still some way short of the form he showed in 2014/15, when his displays for the Baggies earned a call-up to the senior national team.
"When I joined the club 20 months ago Saido was the talisman that kept us up," he said. "We finished 13th that year and he was fantastic. I think he scored 10 goals after Christmas and was absolutely fantastic.
"But you can't switch it on and off. He's been pulled from pillar to post with all the speculation. Saido has got to get back down to it. He was in the right place at the right time last Saturday for maybe three or four golden opportunities which 20 months ago he would have taken at least one or two of them."
