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 |
|