David Moyes is looking forward to once again testing his managerial mettle against Tony Pulis when Sunderland take on West Bromwich Albion.
The duo have faced off at a number of different clubs across almost two decades, with the first meeting coming in 1999 as Pulis’ Gillingham and Moyes’ Preston North End vied for a place in the Football League Division Two play-off final.
During the Scot’s time at Goodison Park the Welshman took charge of a host of top-flight clubs including Stoke City and Crystal Palace before switching to the Hawthorns.
And speaking to safc.com, Moyes quipped that Pulis is more than a familiar face.
“I’ve been coming up against Tony for what feels like 100 years,” joked Moyes. “We’ve been in the game together throughout our careers and we’ve come up against each other at many different clubs.
“He was the manager of Gillingham and I was the manager of Preston North End in the early days, and his team actually beat mine in the play-offs in my first season.”
He continued: “Tony has done a good job wherever he has gone.
“Given time, he always puts together a good team and you can see them beginning to build on what they have done, and sometimes it takes a little bit of a while to appreciate how good a job he has done.”
The Sunderland boss also put the emphasis on his players to improve following defeat against Stoke City, with wholesale changes unlikely due to the Lads’ current injury problems.
"We've made some mistakes recently and I'm finding it difficult to change any of the players around, because we don't have that.
"Normally I would say if you're going to make that level of mistake then you won't play but we've not got the resources at the moment to change that round, so the players get that chance again, but we don't want repeated mistakes, that's for sure."