Swansea v West Brom: Tony Pulis on the brink of breaking top-10 duck

This season though, at least one of those facts is set to change. Despite picking up just two points from the last eight games, the Baggies have all-but guaranteed a top-half finish.

Thanks to a whole host of teams behind them fluffing their lines, only a remarkably heavy defeat by six goals or more tomorrow would see the team finish 11th.

Even then, West Ham would have to beat Burnley by five or Leicester would have to beat Bournemouth by one.

Pulis is set to break his top-10 duck this season and deliver the finish that owner Guochuan Lai demanded when he handed him a one-year contract extension in October.

“I’m more pleased for the players,” he said. “The players have worked really, really hard.

“We’ve had a bad run of results that could have taken away from the fact they’ve had such a good season. But we’ve done this now. We need to try to win on Sunday, and if we can do that and finish a little bit higher it would be brilliant.”

Mr Consistent may be on the cusp of his first top ten finish, but Pulis will only beat his best points tally in the top tier if he wins at the Liberty Stadium, something he’s never managed before.

It could have been so much better of course. At the end of February this campaign looked like being a record-breaking one for Pulis and club. But a poor run which has yielded five points from 11 games has taken some of the shine off.

Despite that, Pulis was still shortlisted for Premier League manager of the season, as was Sunday’s opponent in the dug-out.

Not only has Paul Clement, brother of former Baggies left-back Neil, successfully kept Swansea up, he’s done it with a game to spare.

“Paul’s done a wonderful job,” said Pulis. “He had his first taste of it at Derby and it didn’t go too well for him.

“As a coach, I don’t think there’s any doubt Paul is good enough. Look at the clubs he’s worked at, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich.

“But that first job is difficult. It’s all new, stuff is thrown at you that you’d never expect. Irrespective of the great managers he’s worked with, nothing prepares you for what it really takes to be a manager. That experience at Derby has put him in good stead for Swansea.”

Clement’s success means there’s not much riding on Sunday’s game, except pride and a couple of million pounds in prize money.

Pulis is likely to re-instate 19-year-old Sam Field to the line-up after resting him against Manchester City, and there may be overdue minutes for Jonathan Leko and Kane Wilson too.

Salomon Rondon (hamstring) and Gareth McAuley (knee) both face late fitness tests but Matt Phillips is expected to miss out again with his hamstring problem.

Win, and the Baggies could finish eighth. Lose, and the fizzling out will be complete. Either way, thoughts will quickly turn to the summer, with Pulis and the board flying out to China on Monday.

“August comes round very quickly so we’ve got to make sure we’re prepared,” said Pulis, whose hoping Guochuan Lai will strengthen his hand.

“That’s why we’re going there. To find out exactly where we stand, where the Chinese want to go and where they expect us to improve. We’ll go through it very openly and very candidly.

“The important thing when you’re running a business is that you don’t get complacent or carried away with what you’ve achieved.

“The big thing is to win on Sunday and then get on straight away with next season. Next year isn’t far away.”