Pulis believes Berahino will stay at West Brom

Tony Pulis believes Saido Berahino will remain at West Brom until the end of the season, praising the in-demand striker for “two great finishes” in a 2-2 draw with Peterborough United in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Berahino put West Brom into the lead after 14 minutes at The Hawthorns with a swept 20-yard finish and struck again with six minutes to go after Shaquile Coulthirst’s equaliser, only for Jon Taylor to hit back immediately to earn a replay for the League One club.

The striker has been out of favour at West Brom this season, with Pulis having publicly criticised his mentality and fitness levels.

“It’s nice for [Berahino] to get 90 minutes under his belt because that was important today,” Pulis said. 

“He is a good finisher. He’s not as sharp, he’s not as fit as we’d want him to be, but he’s missed half the season and that’s going to be a problem for us.

“His goals are so, so important for us and he’s shown that again today.

“Everything that happens financially at the football club will be determined by the chairman, but personally I don’t think it will be [Berahino’s last game].”

Pulis accused his West Brom players of switching off twice after defensive errors cost his team victory, but praised Graham Westley’s lower-league outfit for their performance.

“Firstly you’ve got to give Peterborough a load of credit,” said Pulis. “They’ve come here and they’ve worked really hard and they’ve given it a great go.

“We’ve had the cup tie twice in our hands and we switched off twice.

“[Sebastien Pocognoli and Boaz Myhill] get caught for the first goal and the second goal is a poor goal for us, an angled ball, we don’t defend that on the left-hand side of the pitch that well and the lad takes it with aplomb.”

Pulis added that a rib injury sustained in training meant goalkeeper Ben Foster was not risked. 

“That was disappointing because we want to keep him playing but obviously the games now come thick and fast,” he said. 

“Whether he’ll be fit for Swansea, we’ll have to wait and see.”