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."

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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

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.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS MANCHESTER CITY