THE 39 REPS.. PULIS SENDS OUT A POISON PEN LETTER

TONY PULIS hopes West Brom’s penalty debacle at Arsenal alerts referees to his side’s amazing spot-kick drought.

The Baggies were denied a stonewall penalty at the Emirates in Monday night’s televised 2-0 defeat. It was the 39th straight Premier League game in which Pulis’ side have failed to be awarded a spot-kick. They looked nailed on to end that run when Jay Rodriguez was swept off his feet by Gunners defender Shkodran Mustafi at 0-0. But referee Bobby Madley failed to blow and instead played advantage, as Rodriguez got up and struck the post with a shot. Boss Pulis, who supports the introduction of video assistance for refs, reflected: “It is 39 games now. Everybody in the ground thought it was a penalty, it was a poor decision. “I was disappointed the other night. I think the referee has had a bad day. But we have had a few days and I have cooled down. “It is not the first time we haven’t got what we think we deserve. “If you play advantage, my understanding of the rule is you have to bring it back, if there is no advantage gained.

“The argument is: did he initially think it was a penalty and, if Jay had stayed down, would he have given it? That was the big talking point for me.

“Then we thought the incident should have been brought back and we should have got a penalty.” Albion’s last top-flight spot-kick was over a year ago, in September 2016, when Nacer Chadli scored from the spot, in a 4-2 home win over West Ham.

Ninety-three Premier League penalties have been awarded since Albion last had one – with an average of four per team. But the hosts can feel more optimistic this afternoon when Watford visit as Michael Oliver is referee. Oliver previously awarded two penalties to Albion in this fixture two seasons ago, in April 2016.

But Saido Berahino saw both his efforts saved by Heurelho Gomes. The Baggies have again struggled for goals this term and only scored four league goals.

But Pulis (above) insists they are creating enough chances and hopes Salomon Rondon hits form again soon to pep up their attack.

The Venezuela striker, 28, is yet to score in the Premier League this term and has just one top-flight goal in 2017. Pulis added: “The last couple of weeks, we have created a lot more chances than is necessary to score goals.

“But we have to be more clinical. We are confident we will score goals. “We are desperate for Salomon to hit a bit of form again – that will help us enormously.

“If he gets a couple of goals, his confidence goes up, and he has shown already he is capable of getting goals at this level.”