Mauricio Pellegrino has revealed his respect for West Brom manager Tony Pulis.

Baggies boss Pulis is a seasoned veteran of the Premier League and has proven himself time and again at a string of different clubs.

Pellegrino, on the other hand, is experiencing his first months in charge of an English top flight team, and is a great admirer of the way Pulis has sustained a successful career.

“It is a manager with a lot of experience,” said Pellegrino of Pulis ahead of the game between Saints and West Brom at St Mary’s tomorrow.

“I remember him when he was with Stoke when I was at Liverpool many years ago and he built a lot of teams from zero and transformed them to be really competitive. He’s really clever for me.

“The reputation for this manager and to be a lot of years in the Premier League you need capacity, personality and talent.

“I respect him and his job.”

Saints do know what to expect from Pulis’ side.

They will likely be well organised, defensively sound and will get men behind the ball and make themselves difficult to break down.

“I expect the team to be really well organised, waiting together, pressing together when they think they are fresh enough to do it, playing long, win the second ball, set plays trying to be a threat,” reflected Pellegrino.

“I expect this and I know it will be difficult but I feel my players every single week we learn how to play like this and approach this type of games.”

Saints have no new injury concerns for the match, with the only doubt surrounding Jeremy Pied, who is returning from a minor problem.

After twice coming back from a goal down but only managing a draw against Newcastle last weekend, Pellegrino is desperate to get another win on the board against the Baggies.

He admitted he was pleased with the way his players reacted against the Magpies, but insists his side need to turn promising positions into wins from now on.

“I think that it was really a chaotic game, even from the beginning because they score for me without deserving too much but that is part of football,” admitted Pellegrino.

“We were behind them and behind the game all the time and after equalising we concede again and this was a difficult moment.

“The reaction of the team, the personality of the team, to push them was really good and in terms of character the tempo of the team was right.

“At the end the point is not good enough because we need to convert these starts into victories and three points, but if we think about how was the game, the reaction I think was important.”