TONY PULIS was delighted as West Brom recorded a shock 3-0 victory over 10-man champions Chelsea in an ill-tempered Premier League clash in their final home match of the season at the Hawthorns on Monday.
Saido Berahino netted in each half and Chris Brunt added a third on the hour as the Baggies comfortably saw off their visitors, who played for 60 minutes without Cesc Fabregas after he was dismissed for violent conduct just before the half-hour mark.
Pulis said: "It's an extra three points and we'll finish 13th, nobody can catch us now - I'm delighted with that.
"If you look at the games we were going to finish on, the last five games, they were so difficult, and we were so on edge after we got beaten at home by QPR and Leicester, but the lads have bounced back and the performances they've put in against the bigger clubs have been wonderful.
"We had the breaks again tonight, we played really well at times, defended well, kept a really good shape... the discipline was really good when we didn't have the ball and we made it difficult for Chelsea."
On opposite number Jose Mourinho, Pulis praised the way his Chelsea team have won the title and added: "He's been very good. I've managed against him twice now and have managed to beat him twice now - once at Palace and now once at West Brom.
"He's been very, very gracious in defeat. For all what we've done tonight, they've been worthy champions, a fantastic football club and they have some wonderful players. I've seen some people criticise them and it's just unbelievable, but they've been by a country mile, the best team in England this year."
Baggies captain Darren Fletcher was booked for shoving Fabregas in the chest in the aftermath of the Spaniard's dismissal.
He said: "Costa and G-Mac (McAuley) got involved - and it takes a lot for G-Mac to lose his cool - and I could tell something serious had happened. Them losing their cool a little bit plays into your hands and helped us.
"I saw it out of the corner of the eye. When a there's a group of players and the ball hits somebody, it's out of order and I wasn't happy about it and made my feelings known.
"I probably shouldn't have got involved as much as I did, but sometimes you react as captain as well when you see something like that happen to one of your team-mates."
The defeat was Chelsea's third loss of the season and ended their 16-match unbeaten run in the league ahead of their final match of at home to Sunderland on Sunday. Mourinho applauded the club's supporters after the final whistle but blamed winning the title so early for the result.
He said: "I can't say (the result) is a big surprise for me. I know my players, I know myself and I know the nature of the game, I know what normally happens when a team is champion with matches in hand to play.
"This is just an example. When we're the champions early it's difficult to keep the motivation high. We've got lots of injuries, we've also players that we are protecting.
"For not to have any risk, the motivation is not so high and the intensity is not so high and when you lose that intensity of competition, it's difficult to complete at the highest level," he added.
"I cannot blame my players without blaming myself because the ideal scenario is to be champion and go home and don't play again - so if we have to blame somebody, we have to blame Man City, Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool because they let us win the title so early and because we have to play these three matches, this can happen."
