Albion entertain second placed Manchester United at The Hawthorns on Saturday knowing that at kick-off we may be in the bottom three.
Birmingham City entertain Tottenham in the day’s lunch time kick off and a win for Blues would see them knock Albion into the bottom three.
Albion will then take on United with the knowledge of what kind of result we will need, although it is going to be tough against a quality United side.
Albion go into the game with a record of one win in seven. We have shown in the last few games what we are capable of and if we could just take some goal-scoring chances we would be winning games instead of drawing.
Albion take on United knowing that they have yet to take a point off them at home in the Premier League, in fact Albion’s only point against United was at Old Trafford in the last away game of last season.
The game should see the return of Kieran Richardson who made a name for himself whilst on loan to the club last season.
Richardson has been in and out of the team at United this season but has gained some valuable first team experience and also kept his place in the England squad.
It’s going to be a tough game for the Baggies to get anything from the game but you only have to look at last seasons game at Old Trafford and the win against Arsenal earlier this season to see that Albion have it in them to cause an upset.
Vital Quotes:
West Brom Team News:
The Baggies have declared defender Paul Robinson fit after the defender limped out of the derby game at Blues last week.
Nigel Quashie serves the third game of his five match ban. The game comes to early for Zoltan Gera but the good news is that he come through just over an hour of a reserve game this week unscathed.
Bryan Robson has a selection headache up front with Nathan Ellington and Kanu impressing up front when they come on last week with Ellington scoring his first goal since November.
Kevin Campbell has also done a job up front on his own for the last couple of weeks but has not scored since the drubbing at Fulham and missed a sitter last week.
Player to watch: Diomansy Kamara
Albion’s biggest threat last week, he missed a sitter in the first-half but it didn’t stop him. Ran Blues ragged and was a constant threat.
If he can improve his finishing he would be a much bigger asset to us. Has the ability to threaten United and open up their defence.
Manchester United Team News:
Good news for Albion is that Alex Ferguson was thinking about giving in-form Wayne Rooney a rest as he has played so many games lately, the bad news is that he would be replaced by out of favour Ruud van Nistelrooy who will have a point to prove.
Alan Smith is out for the season with a broken leg and joins Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Paul Scholes in the treatment room.
Kieran Richardson should appear for United meaning a first return to The Hawthorns since his loan move last season.
Player to watch: Wayne Rooney
On top form and I hope that we don’t have to watch him. He is a class act and amazing to watch, hopefully he will have an off day if he plays.
Previous Meetings
Albion have played United twice already this season, both at Old Trafford.
The aggregate score so far is 6-1 United, a 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford in the Carling Cup where Nathan Ellington scored a late consolation for Albion in reply to goals from Christiano Ronaldo, Louis Saha and John O’Shea.
Albion also visited Old Trafford in the league and lost 3-0 to United. Goals from Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Ruud van Nistelrooy finished off the Baggies, the game also marked a failed come back for Zoltan Gera.
Ref Watch:
Howard Webb – South Yorkshire
Howard Webb has only officiated in one game involving Albion this season. Webb was the referee for the home defeat to Newcastle and did not show any cards to the Baggies.
Next 5 Baggies Fixtures:
Monday, 27 March 2006
Barclays Premiership
Tottenham v West Brom, 20:00
Saturday, 01 April 2006
Barclays Premiership
West Brom v Liverpool, 17:15
Sunday, 09 April 2006
Barclays Premiership
Aston Villa v West Brom, 12:00
Saturday, 15 April 2006
Barclays Premiership
Arsenal v West Brom, 15:00
Monday, 17 April 2006
Barclays Premiership
West Brom v Bolton, 20:00