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      MATCH PREVIEW

FULHAM v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 15th September 2012, 3pm
Craven Cottage

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke will be without Jerome Thomas who has undergone a minor knee operation, whilst Steven Reid remains a doubt following a hamstring strain suffered in Albion's last game against Everton. Otherwise Clarke has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Squad: Foster, Olsson, McAuley, Ridgewell, Reid, Jones, Popov, Dawson, Yacob, Mulumbu, Morrison, Gera, Long, Odemwingie, Fortune, Myhill, El Ghanassy, Lukaku, Jara, Dorrans, Brunt, Rosenberg, Tamas, Thorne, Hurst.

Fulham

Recent signings Dimitar Berbatov and Giorgos Karagounis will feature, but former Baggie Kieran Richardson is ruled out.

Simon Davies (neck), Kerim Frei (pelvis), and Phillipe Senderos (foot) are all out whilst Bryan Ruiz will face a late fitness test.

Squad: Schwarzer, Hughes, Hangeland, Riether, Riise, Sidwell, Diarra, Duff, Kacaniklic, Berbatov, Petric, Etheridge, Somogyi, Stockdale, Kelly, Baird, Grygera, Briggs, Kasami, Dejagah, Karagounis, Na Banga, Rodallega, Ruiz, Trotta.

QUOTES

Albion head coach Steve Clarke:

“I think everybody is pleased with the start. What's good, though, is that even though the players are pleased with the start, nobody is getting carried away.  We understand there are many tough games to come. We’re just focussed on the next game and trying to get a positive result down at Craven Cottage. The good thing about it here is that it’s a good experienced squad. All the experienced players understand how difficult the Premier League is. Their feet are firmly on the ground.”

“Fulham have acquitted themselves really well in the Premier League. They are an established Premier League club. That’s what we aim for here. They are probably run slightly differently to the way the chairman runs things here. But Fulham are a good benchmark. They are a team that have come through the leagues and have managed to put together a really good squad of players that is competitive in the Premier League.”

www.wba.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 11/4, Fulham Win: evens, Draw: 12/5.

First Goalscorer

Berbatov 9/2, Petric 6/1, Rodallega 7/1, Trotta 7/1, Long 7/1, Lukaku 7/1, Odemwingie 7/1, Dejagah 10/1, Duff 10/1, Ruiz 10/1, Fortune 10/1, Morrison 10/1, Kacaniklic 12/1, Karagounis 12/1, Brunt 12/1, Rosenberg 12/1, Dorrans 14/1, El Ghanassy 14/1, Gera 14/1, Richardson 16/1, Sidwell 16/1.

REFEREE

Roger East (Wiltshire) - Last took charge of an Albion match in the Carling Cup tie away at Bournemouth in August 2011, a game which ended in a 4-1 victory for Roy Hodgson's men.

TICKET INFORMATION

The game is completely sold out for both home and away supporters. Albion will be backed by 1,700 fans.

WEATHER FORECAST

Dry with sunny spells, 21°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

The first league meetings between the two sides took place in the Second Division during the 1907/08 season. The first game, on December 28 at Craven Cottage, ended all-square at 1-1 with Harry Wilcox scoring the Albion goal and Harry Ross hitting the hosts'. The return game at The Hawthorns on the last day of the season saw Albion claim a 3-1 victory, Billy Jordan, Harry Wright and Willie Thompson the Baggies' goalscorers.

Albion's biggest victory over the Cottagers is 6-1, achieved twice, first in 1946/47 and then in 1962/63, both games took place at The Hawthorns. The latter game saw Derek Kevan score four of the Albion goals. The Baggies also recorded a 6-2 victory at The Hawthorns in November 1965.

Fulham's best result against Albion came as recently as February 2006 when a Chris Coleman led team recorded a 6-1 victory at Craven Cottage. Heidar Helguson and Collins John both hit braces for the hosts whilst Kevin Campbell notched Albion's solitary reply.

Albion's first ever Premiership win came against Fulham at The Hawthorns on August 31, 2002, Darren Moore scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory.

Albion have failed to win on their last 13 league visits to Craven Cottage with their last win at the venue coming in October 1967, Jeff Astle and Tony Brown scoring in a 2-1 victory. In the years since that last league victory Albion have however won three cup games, 2-1 in the FA Cup in January 1969, 1-0 in the League Cup in September 1979 and finally a 3-2 victory in the Carling Cup in October 2005.

LAST MEETING AT CRAVEN COTTAGE

Fulham 1-1 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Wednesday 1st February 2012, 8.00pm

Fulham: Stockdale, Kelly, Senderos, Hangeland, Riise, Davies, Sidwell, Murphy, Duff, Ruiz, Dempsey. Subs Not Used: Trotta, Gecov, Frei, Hughes, Etheridge, Kasami, Baird.

Goalscorer: Dempsey 69.

Booked: Murphy (unsporting behaviour 51).

Albion: Foster, Shorey, Olsson, McAuley, Tamas, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Morrison (Reid 89), Cox (Tchoyi 77), Fortune, Odemwingie. Subs Not Used: Fulop, Thorne, Dawson, Allan, Mantom.

Goalscorer: Tchoyi 82.

Attendance: 25,689

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).

Here’s the scenario for Martin Jol: it’s transfer deadline day, 24 hours before your Fulham team faces a side managed by the club’s most successful ever manager and you sell your main striker, the talisman that is Bobby Zamora and someone you have struggled to get on with all season. This Dutchman certainly does not lack courage. But neither is Jol a fool.

Had he sold Clint Dempsey, he would have been met with a far more tetchy response than the one that greeted the final whistle of this oh-so-predictable draw.

Dempsey struck his 16th goal of the season but it was not enough to gain victory against Roy Hodgson’s West Brom side on his return to the Cottage. There were chants of “Woy, Woy” all around. In a sense this was Hodgson v Hodgson because, for all Jol’s intent to stamp his authority on this Fulham side, it is essentially the one he inherited from Mark Hughes and which Hughes inherited from Hodgson. That is, organised, disciplined and difficult to beat.

Afterwards Jol admitted his relationship with Zamora had broken down and made it clear that he felt it was best for the 31-year-old striker to move to Queens Park Rangers for £4.5 million. “It was lingering on for months,” he said. “He wanted that move [but] you always want to keep your players on board.”

Without Zamora Fulham lacked a cutting edge and it was West Brom who racked up the chances, although Marc-Antoine Fortuné and Peter Odemwingie were wasteful in front of goal. Fulham, for their part, had possession but no punch. Yet they did eventually manage to fashion a goal when Bryan Ruiz cushioned Steve Sidwell’s header from a half-clearance and played a clever reverse pass to Dempsey. The makeshift striker swivelled and screwed his shot back across Ben Foster and into the net.

The goal appeared decisive but Hodgson had an ace in the shape of a powerful, dreadlocked Cameroonian up his sleeve and quickly introduced Somen Tchoyi. The striker ran on to James Morrison’s flick forward and fired in a cross-shot that was fierce enough to catch out goalkeeper David Stockdale and level the scores.

Dempsey reacted furiously to a challenge by Jonas Olsson, claiming he was elbowed by the West Brom captain, before he headed over from a corner. “I thought it was fantastic the reception I got,” Hodgson said. “The club’s moving on now.” Fulham fans will hope it is in the right direction.

The Telegraph

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Hungarian midfielder Zoltan Gera originally moved to The Hawthorns in July 2004, joining in a £1.5million deal from Ferencvaros. The midfielder spent four years at The Hawthorns, becoming a huge fan favourite in the process. In the summer of 2008, an out of contract Gera joined Fulham. He would stay at Craven Cottage for three years, again becoming a fan favourite, before returning to Albion in August 2011. Gera has now made over 150 appearances for the Baggies, scoring 26 goals, and recently became the club's most capped international player of all time.

Current Fulham boss Martin Jol spent two years at The Hawthorns as a player, joining in 1982 from Dutch side FC Twente. On leaving Albion, Jol spent a year at Coventry City before returning to Holland.

Kieran Richardson was a huge influence on Albion's 'Great Escape' of 2004/05. The midfielder moved to The Hawthorns on loan from Manchester United in January of that season and proceeded to score three goals in 12 games, including one against Portsmouth on the final day of the season. After a five year spell at Sunderland, Richardson moved to Craven Cottage last month.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Giles Barnes, Perry Digweed, Jonathan Greening, Mark Grew, Junichi Inamoto, Diomansy Kamara, Zat Knight, Tony Lange, Stacey North, Paul Peschisolido, Martin Pike, Bobby Robson, Arthur Rowley, Nicky Shorey, Kevin Steggles, Brian Talbot and Pascal Zuberbuhler.

Current England boss Roy Hodgson managed both clubs as did Vic Buckingham and Ray Harford; Ex-Albion manager Archie Macauley played for Fulham during the 1950's; Gordon Clark managed Albion from 1959-61 and later had a spell as assistant manager at Fulham.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS FULHAM

 VENUE P W D  L F A
 Home 40 22 9 9 86 43
 Away 38 14 8 16 34 52
 Total 78 36 17 25 120 95

LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST FULHAM

 DATE  COMPETITION H/A F-A  GOALSCORERS  GATE
 Wed 01 Feb 2012  Premier League A 1-1  Tchoyi - Dempsey  25,689
 Sat 24 Sep 2011  Premier League H 0-0    23,835
 Tue 04 Jan 2011  Premier League A 0-3  Davies, Demsey, Hangeland  23,654
 Sat 23 Oct 2010

 Premier League

H 2-1  Mulumbu, Fortune - Carson (og)  25,625
 Sun 22 Feb 2009  Premier League A 0-2  Zamora, Johnson  22,394
 Sat 04 Oct 2008  Premier League H 1-0  Bednar  25,708
 Sat 11 Feb 2006  Premier League A 1-6  Campbell - Helguson 2, Radzinski, C Davies (og), John 2  21,508
 Sat 03 Dec 2005  Premier League H 0-0    23,144
 Tue 25 Oct 2005  League Cup A 3-2 aet  Earnshaw, Kanu, Inamoto - Boa Morte, Helguson    7,373
 Sun 16 Jan 2005  Premier League A 0-1  Diop  16,180

 

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