Tony Pulis proud of West Brom players despite narrow Chelsea defeat
Tony Pulis is proud his Albion players refused to roll over for champions Chelsea.
The Baggies held Antonio Conte's team until Michy Batshuayi scored in the 82nd minute to secure the Premier League title for the visitors.
But Pulis heaped praise on his team, who signed off an impressive season at The Hawthorns with a valiant, but ultimately fruitless, performance.
And the Welshman rued the slice of luck that led to Chelsea's goal, when Gary Cahill's miscued shot fell perfectly into Cesar Azpilicueta's path.
"We just wanted to make a tough night," said Pulis. "We didnt want them coming into town and rolling us over, that would have been a travesty.
"The players worked very hard, and we're disappointed.
"When you're playing the best team in the land, and they are, they've proved that over the season, you dont need them getting that little slice of luck.
"But full credit to the players. We've given them a game. I'm pleased."
Albion hardly disgraced themselves in defeat, and may have snatched a victory had Salomon Rondon or Nacer Chadli taken their second-half chances, but the loss extends Their winless run to six games.
Even more worrying, the Baggies have now failed to score in eight of their last 10 games since hitting 40 points. But Pulis doesn't think the performances have tailed off..
"We've had a bad run in respect of results but we haven't been bad in respect of our performances," he said.
The Welshman is still targeting a top half finish this season but Leicester and Southampton can overtake the Baggies tomorrow and remove them from eighth place for the first time in 2017.
Albion still have important games away at Manchester City and Swansea to come but Chelsea have clinched the title with two games to spare.
"They're very well organised and they're most probably at their best on the counter attack, springing out of defence," said Pulis. "They've got some fantastic players who can change games in a blink of an eye, that's what they've done over the season.
"At the back they're very solid, they're very difficult to break down. They deserve the title, fair play to them.
"It's just disappointing they've done it our place. we'd like to have stopped them."
