It is the Tony Pulis derby at The Hawthorns on Saturday as the Welshman's current club West Bromwich Albion host his long-time former team Stoke City in the Premier League.
A West Brom win would make it back-to-back league successes for only the second time this season, but that would be a surprise given Stoke's impressive Christmas period.
West Brom
eOnly three points separated West Brom from the drop zone after the Boxing Day defeat to Swansea, but Pulis's side doubled that gap by overcoming 18th-placed Newcastle on Monday for their first win in seven.
The game was settled by a lapse of concentration from Premier League debutant Karl Darlow in the Newcastle goal as he let Darren Fletcher's effort squeeze under him 12 minutes from time.
At the halfway mark of the season, the Baggies are three points clear of defending champions Chelsea and just behind Southampton and Everton. That would have sounded unthinkable at the start of the season, but West Brom are just 13th, with the aforementioned trio all enduring underwhelming seasons.
West Brom are the only one of the top 16 sides to have not reached 20 goals for the season, and Pulis will hope to resolve the Saido Berahino situation in the upcoming transfer window.
Berahino said that he would never play for the club again while Jeremy Peace was still in charge after he failed to secure a move away in the summer and it looks like the Englishman's attitude is waning again with the January transfer window on the horizon.
Pulis has insisted that he does want to keep the 22-year-old, although it would be hard to imagine the Baggies turning down an offer this month for a wantaway player if the money was right.
Recent form: DDDLLW
Stoke
All of Stoke's five matches in December so far have been against sides who were above them in the table. They started with an impressive 2-0 win over Manchester City, but then managed just one point out of a possible six against West Ham United and Crystal Palace.
The Potters have bounced back in emphatic style after Christmas, taking out Manchester United by the same scoreline as City before edging Everton 4-3 in a contender for game of the season on Monday.
Marko Arnautovic, Bojan Krkic and Xherdan Shaqiri again impressed at Goodison Park and it was the latter who scored twice, including a chipped effort that he claims was intentional, although replays suggest that he was trying to find Arnautovic with a cutback instead of perfectly clipping it over Tim Howard.
Arnautovic smashed home the 91st-minute winner from the penalty spot and that means he now has seven Premier League goals in 18 appearances this season - two more goals than he managed in his previous two seasons at the club combined (five goals in 59 appearances).
The Austrian has also had a hand in five goals in his last five Premier League appearances for the Potters (four goals, one assist).
Some doubted whether Pulis's departure would benefit the club in May 2013, but Mark Hughes has impressed in his two-and-a-half seasons in charge.
Hughes has a significantly better win ratio in the Premier League as Stoke boss (37.9%) than Pulis managed with the Potters (29.5%) and they also play a more expansive brand of football.
Under Pulis, Stoke averaged 186 successful passes per game and a passing accuracy of 66%. Hughes's Stoke tenure has seen an average of 316 successful passes per game and a completion rate of 78%.
Away from the field, Jack Butland provided a good news story to end 2015 on yesterday by donating £5,000 to Great Britain's Women's Deaf Football team to help send them to this year's Deaf World Cup in Italy.
Recent Premier League form: LWDLWW
Recent form (all competitions): WWDLWW
Team News
Hughes has named the same lineup for the recent wins over United and Everton and could stick with the winning formula at The Hawthorns.
In-form Arnautovic has a slight hamstring strain, but should still play given his importance in recent weeks. Marc Muniesa, Stephen Ireland and Peter Crouch are all close to returning to full fitness but tomorrow's match comes too soon.
After Victor Anichebe came off with a hamstring problem against Newcastle, Pulis must decide whether to bring in Berahino or Rickie Lambert to lead the line. Given that Pulis said he was lucky to make the bench against the Magpies, Lambert is more likely to come in.
Goalkeeper Ben Foster is close to making his first appearance since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament last March, but he will not return here against the team he suffered the injury against.
Salomon Rondon and James McClean, meanwhile, both serve the last of their three-match bans.
West Brom possible starting lineup:
Myhill; Dawson, McAuley, Evans; Gardner, Yacob, Morrison, Fletcher, Brunt; Sessegnon; Lambert
Stoke posssible starting lineup:
Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters; Whelan, Cameron; Shaqiri, Afellay, Arnautovic; Bojan
Head To Head
Stoke might be glad not to see Rondon present given that he scored the only goal of the game in the reverse fixture between the two in August.
Pulis has won both of his matches against former club Stoke while in charge of West Brom and has only ever been on the losing side once in this fixture.
There have been just 20 goals in the 13 Premier League games between the Baggies and Potters and just eight in the last seven encounters.
We say: West Brom 1-2 Stoke
Given the way Stoke have played since Christmas it is hard to look past the Potters here. Pulis will be out to make it tough for his former club, but it is hard to imagine any defence living with Arnautovic and co. at the moment.
