Pulis praises Foster for keeping Spurs at bay

Tony Pulis says West Brom had goalkeeper Ben Foster to thank for a string of saves to deny Tottenham in the first half of a 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns. 

Foster was in top form to prevent Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Ben Davies from giving Spurs a half-time advantage after a period in which they dominated. 

West Brom came back into it in the second half, and thought they had won the game through Nacer Chadli’s late goal, before Alli popped up to earn a share the spoils with two minutes to play. 

The draw leaves West Brom unbeaten in four Premier League games.

And while Pulis acknowledged his team were poor in the first period, he paid tribute to the quality of their opponents.

“If you look at it, in the first half we had Ben to thank. It looked like half a dozen players were away on their international break,” he said. 

“They caused us problems, but I thought we gave them a better game in the second half.

“We were getting caught in midfield and we were not marking people. What we needed to do was sort that and we were much better.

“We got closer to them and the second half was more of an even contest.

“Tottenham are an absolutely fantastic team. They are one of the best teams in Europe, never mind England. It’s a real pleasure to manage against them and watch them.

“It’s a wonderful league to be in. If you start to become complacent, the bottom drops out, and this club has to keep its feet on the ground.”

Next up for West Brom is a daunting trip to face Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday.