WEST BROMWICH ALBION v MANCHESTER CITY
Barclays Premier League Saturday 20th October 2012,
3pm The Hawthorns
MATCH
NOTES
Albion will be attempting to win
their opening five home matches in the top flight for the first time since the
1919/20 championship winning season.
City are unbeaten in 13 Barclays Premier League games, their
last defeat coming back in April against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Albion, along with Chelsea, are
the only Premier League clubs to have a 100% record at home whilst City, again
along with Chelsea, are the only two undefeated teams in the top flight this
season.
City have only managed one victory in their last five visits
to The Hawthorns.
Albion have failed to score in
their past four Premier League games against City.
TEAM
NEWS
Albion
On-loan striker Romelu Lukaku should be fit despite missing
Belgium's win over
Scotland with an ankle problem.
Midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu also picked up an injury on
international duty and is rated at 60/40 to play.
Chris Brunt and Steven Reid (both hamstring), Billy Jones
(knee) and Boaz Myhill (thumb) all remain sidelined whilst Jerome Thomas is not
yet match fit after his recent knee operation.
Squad from:
Foster, Tamas,
McAuley, Olsson, Popov, Yacob, Dorrans, Odemwingie, Morrison, Mulumbu, Gera,
Long, Daniels, Ridgewell, El Ghanassy, Lukaku, Jara, Dawson, Fortuné, Rosenberg,
Thorne.
Manchester City
For City, David Silva and Jack Rodwell are both absent due to
hamstring injuries suffered whilst on international duty.
The duo join Javi Garcia
(hamstring), Maicon (foot) and Guidetti (thigh) on the sidelines.
Squad from:
Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Milner, Barry, Y
Touré, Nasri, Agüero, Tévez, Pantilimon, Wright, K Touré, Nastasic, Kolarov,
Nimely, Dzeko, Balotelli, Evans
QUOTES
Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:
"At this moment in time I'd say
Manchester City are still the
favourites to win the league. They haven't shown that they've gone backwards
from last year. They've shown that they're at the same level and it's up to
everyone else to catch up with them.
You know their squad is really strong and they have a number
of options. I read in the week that David Silva is injured but they've got Samir
Nasri to come in. They've got like-for-like replacements all over the pitch.
"They're a strong squad and if you're going to compete up
there at that level, then you need one. In the Premier League in general you
need a strong squad, which is something we've tried to build at
Albion this year. I think over
the first seven games we've shown that our squad is strong enough to be
competitive. Credit to those we've got who have not been selected and have come
into games with maybe half an hour or 20 minutes to go but always made a
positive contribution. That's really important when you're trying to build a
good team and a good squad.
"Every game is a good test in the Premier League. We've
worked ever so hard and done really well to build ourselves a good platform. Now
we have to try to build on that platform. I think between now and the end of the
year we've got 13 games and we've got to try to attack those 13 games the way
we've attacked the first seven. We need to get as many points as we can and
then, come January 1, we can sit down and decide what direction our season is
going to go in."
City boss Roberto Mancini:
"I should say many compliments to him (Clarke) because he has
done a very good job until now. In this moment, I think
West Bromwich is the team that
has played the best football, so tomorrow for us it will be a tough game.
"It is always difficult, this game after the international
break. Today is the first date we can work together. We need to think and we
need to put everything we have into tomorrow's game because it will be very
difficult. After that we think about the other games.
"It is very important when there are two teams that play very
good football, I think it is important for the supporters, for everyone."
www.sportinglife.com
MATCH
ODDS
Result
Albion Win: 4/1, Manchester City Win: 4/6, Draw:
11/4.
First Goalscorer Aguero 4/1,
Tevez 9/2, Balotelli 5/1, Dzeko 5/1, Long 8/1, Lukaku 8/1, Toure 8/1, Odemwingie
9/1, Nasri 9/1, Fortune 10/1, Rosenberg 10/1, Sinclair 10/1, Dorrans 14/1, Gera
14/1, Morrison 14/1, El Ghanassy 16/1, Kolarov 16/1.
REFEREE
Mark Clattenburg (County Durham) - Refereed two
Albion games last season - The 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers in December and the
goalless draw against Aston Villa at The Hawthorns in April.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are currently on general sale to Albion
fans only. Manchester City's' allocation of tickets for the game
have now completely sold out.
WEATHER FORECAST
Cloudy with a 10% chance of rain, 13°C.
FIXTURE HISTORY
Albion first met City in league action during the 1899/1900 season. The first
game between the two sides at Stoney Lane in December ended goalless in front of
a crowd of just 2,429. The return game at City's Hyde Road ground in April ended
in a 4-0 defeat for the Baggies with legendary City forward Billy Meredith
amongst the goalscorers.
Albion's biggest league win against City is 9-2,
coming at The Hawthorns in September 1957. Winger Frank Griffin grabbed
three of the Albion goals whilst full-back Don Howe notched two. The other
Baggies' goalscorers were Bobby Robson, Roy Horobin, Brian Whitehouse and
Derek Kevan. Other big wins for Albion include 7-2 at Maine
Road in 1936 when William 'Ginger' Richardson notched a hat-trick and 6-3
at The Hawthorns in 1960 in which Ronnie Allen bagged a treble.
Albion's heaviest league defeat against City came in April
1938 when the club lost 7-1 at Maine Road, City's all-time leading goalscorer
Eric Brook hit four of the goals. Other big wins for City include 6-1
in 1921 when Horace Barnes hit a hat-trick, 6-2 in 1936 and 6-3 in 1903.
In April 1896, prior to the first league meeting of the two
clubs, Albion met City twice in Test Matches, a very early forerunner to the
present day play-offs. Albion won the home match 6-1 and drew 1-1 at City on
their way to retaining their Division One status.
After winning four of the first seven
meetings at Premier League level, Albion have now gone five games without a win
against City in the league, losing four of them and scoring just two goals,
Chris Brunt the scorer of both.
LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS
Albion
0-0 Manchester City Barclays Premier League Monday 26th December 2011,
3:00pm
Albion: Foster,
Jones, Olsson, McAuley, Shorey, Brunt, Scharner, Mulumbu (Dorrans 80), Thomas,
Long, Odemwingie (Jara Reyes 88). Subs not used: Fulop, Dawson, Thorne,
Cox, Fortune.
Manchester City:
Hart, Zabaleta, K
Toure, Kompany, Clichy, Y Toure, Milner (Dzeko 82), Nasri (Barry 59), Silva,
Aguero (Johnson 74), Balotelli. Subs not used: Pantilimon, Lescott, Savic,
De Jong.
Booked:
Y Toure 69 (foul)
Attendance: 25,938
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
Manchester City saw their
two-point advantage at the top of the Barclays Premier League wiped out as they
were frustrated at West Brom. Mario Balotelli hit the bar and had a goal
disallowed but City lacked their usual bite at The Hawthorns and were forced to
settle for a goalless draw. It could even have been worse for Roberto Mancini's
men as Albion rose to
the challenge and were unlucky when Jerome Thomas hit the post and Shane Long
headed wide.
Mancini had tried to freshen up his City side by making four
changes, including recalling the mercurial Balotelli on a ground where he scored
twice and got sent off last season. Kolo Toure, Pablo Zabaleta and James Milner
also came in but West Brom were not intimidated and continually frustrated their
star-studded visitors.
Roy Hodgson's side were clearly buoyed by their thrilling win
at Newcastle last time out and went close inside the opening three
minutes. Thomas brought the ball forward and Chris Brunt turned outside the area
to fire across goal with a powerful left-foot drive. City tried to assert their
authority after that scare but had to wait patiently for chances to open up.
Samir Nasri had a volley blocked by Jonas Olsson - although the attempt was
possibly going wide - and the Frenchman also shot tamely at Ben Foster from
distance. West Brom continued to pose a threat and Paul Scharner tried his luck
with a low shot from 25 yards which, after a slight deflection, was turned
behind by Joe Hart. City should have taken the lead after 24 minutes when Sergio
Aguero laid off for David Silva from a fine cross-field Nasri pass but the
Spaniard side-footed over. Balotelli got involved in the game when he won a
free-kick outside the area and, much to his frustration, then stepped up to have
a low shot deflected narrowly wide. City then had two corners in quick
succession and could have scored from the second of them when Yaya Toure put a
free header wide. City tried to pick up the tempo and Balotelli was unlucky when
a Silva shot was deflected into his path and he volleyed in, only to see an
offside flag raised. West Brom threatened again on the counter-attack when Brunt found
space on the left to curl in a dangerous cross for Long but Vincent Kompany slid
in to make a vital interception. Balotelli went down with a head injury after a
clash with Peter Odemwingie just before the break but the Italian recovered and
was soon back in the action.
Balotelli drew a foul from Olsson in a dangerous position
early in the second half. City made little from the free-kick but had a good
spell of possession and Balotelli struck the top of the bar with a superb effort
from 30 yards wide on the left.
West Brom may have been starved
of the ball at times but looked comfortable when they had it and Kompany again
got his body in the way as Odemwingie shot from 35 yards. Long spurned a
glorious chance just before the hour when City failed to clear and the ball was
drilled to the back post but the Baggies striker headed wide from six yards.
City tried to show some urgency in response but Silva was unable to capitalise
on some neat interplay and shot straight at Foster. Aguero, perhaps surprised to
be given onside from a Milner header, then miskicked attempting to toe-poke past
Foster and Gareth McAuley cleared.
Albion had another chance from a free-kick but Brunt fired wide.
City appeared to be getting frustrated as Kolo Toure shot over and substitute
Gareth Barry screwed another effort well wide.
West Brom were again unfortunate
when Odemwingie teed up Thomas just outside the area and the midfielder struck a
sweet shot against the foot of the post. City changed their attack by sending on
Adam Johnson and Edin Dzeko and were denied with five minutes remaining when
Olsson blocked from Silva. Dzeko found space in injury time but shot well over
the bar and West Brom claimed a deserved point.
Sporting Life
CURRENT CONNECTIONS
None
PAST
CONNECTIONS
Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for
both clubs are: Peter Barnes, Paul Beesley, Tommy Broad, Gerry Creaney, David Cross,
Andy Dibble, George Dorsett, Joe Dorsett, Frank Dyer, Tony Grant, Tony Grealish,
Henry Hancock, Asa Hartford, Robert Hopkins,
Derek Kevan, Steve MacKenzie, Ken McNaught, Ishmael Miller, Gary Owen,
Bruce Rankin, Nicky Reid, Uwe
Rosler, Barry Siddall, Jason van Blerk and Imre Varadi.
Former Albion boss Gary Megson spent three years as a
City player whilst another former Albion manager Ron Saunders also
managed City; Jimmy Hagan managed Albion during the 1960's and
later became a City scout; Former Albion assistant and caretaker manager
Arthur Mann played for City against Albion in the 1970 League Cup
Final; Ex-Albion players Asa Hartford and John Deehan both
later joined City's coaching staff; Former City and England goalkeeper
Joe Corrigan was goalkeeping coach at The Hawthorns from 2005-09.
ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS MANCHESTER CITY
VENUE |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Home |
71 |
38 |
17 |
16 |
135 |
74 |
Away |
69 |
16 |
12 |
41 |
97 |
162 |
Neutral |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Total |
141 |
54 |
29 |
58 |
233 |
238 |
LAST
TEN MATCHES AGAINST MANCHESTER CITY
DATE |
COMPETITION |
H/A |
F-A |
GOALSCORERS |
GATE |
Wed 11 Apr 2012 |
Premier League |
A |
0-4 |
Aguero 2,
Tévez,
Silva |
46,746 |
Mon 26 Dec 2011 |
Premier League |
H |
0-0 |
|
25,938 |
Sat 05 Feb 2011 |
Premier League |
A |
0-3 |
Tévez 3 (2 pens) |
46,846 |
Sun 07 Nov 2010 |
Premier League |
H |
0-2 |
Balotelli 2 |
23,013 |
Wed 22 Oct 2010 |
League Cup |
H |
2-1 |
Zuiverloon, Cox - Jo |
10,418 |
Sun 19 Apr 2009 |
Premier League |
A |
2-4 |
Brunt 2 -
Robinho, Onuoha, Elano (pen),
Sturridge |
40,072 |
Sun 21 Dec 2008 |
Premier League |
H |
2-1 |
Moore, Bednar - Caicedo |
25,010 |
Sat 10 Dec 2005 |
Premier League |
H |
2-0 |
Kamara, Campbell |
25,472 |
Sat 13 Aug 2005 |
Premier League |
A |
0-0 |
|
42,983 |
Sat 22 Jan 2005 |
Premier League |
H |
2-0 |
Campbell, Wallwork |
25,348 |
|