WEST BROMWICH ALBION v QUEENS PARK RANGERS
Barclays Premier League Saturday 6th October 2012,
3pm The Hawthorns
TEAM
NEWS
Albion
Baggies' boss Steve Clarke will be without the
services of the injured Chris Brunt, Billy Jones, Boaz Myhill, Jerome Thomas and
Steven Reid.
Gareth McAuley has been passed fit after picking up
a knock in last week's game at Villa Park whilst Liam Ridgewell is also expected to
be fit. Peter Odemwingie returns following his three match
suspension.
Squad from: Foster, McAuley, Olsson, Popov,
Ridgewell, Mulumbu, Morrison, Yacob, Dorrans, Gera, Long, Daniels, Jara, Dawson,
El Ghanassy, Odemwingie, Lukaku, Fortune.
Queens Park Rangers
Midfielder Samba Diakite serves a one-game suspension
following his red card against West Ham.
Jose Bosingwa and Anton Ferdinand are both injury doubts,
while Andy Johnson, Fabio and Armand Traore are all out injured.
Squad from: Julio Cesar, Nelsen, Mbia, Hill, Onuoha,
Granero, Park, Faurlin, Zamora, Cisse, Wright-Phillips, Green, Cerny,
Murphy, Ehmer, Derry, Bosingwa Ephraim, Ferdinand, Mackie, Hoilett, Taarabt.
QUOTES
Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:
"You go to a club, they invest in a number of players,
sometimes it gels quickly, other times it takes a little bit longer. That is the
case with QPR. They have got some really good players. It hasn't quite clicked
for them. It is up to us to make sure this Saturday it doesn't click for them
and they are still struggling going into the international break. That is our
job. They need to turn their season around and we need to make sure we are 100
per cent at it and make sure it doesn't happen this weekend.
"It is a difficult situation for Mark Hughes. But he has got
far more experience than me in terms of being a manager. I'm sure he has been in
this position a couple of times before and he will know what to do - and he will
know how to get his team out of it. There is expectation at every club. There is
an expectation level at
West Brom and it is something you've got to live with and deal with."
www.sportinglife.com
Queens Park Rangers' manager Mark
Hughes:
“The one emotion that we’re all displaying is a little bit of
frustration. We know that we’ve got quality in the ranks. At the moment we’re
finding it difficult to get results in line with our performances. We haven’t
picked up as many points as we’d have hoped. But there’s real belief in what
we’re doing. Once we get more games under our belts, we’ll be fine. Injuries
have meant that I haven’t been able to select the side that I want.
“We’ve been encouraged by what we’ve produced in a number of
games and we know we’re capable of winning Premier League matches. We all
understand that we’re judged on results – but we knew it was a difficult start
to the season given the fixtures we had. The opening day [defeat against
Swansea] put us on the back
foot.
“If you look at the teams that do well and have a good start
to the season, they have settled sides and defences. We haven’t had that – but
it’ll come. We’re six games into a very long season. I’ve got a great
relationship with Tony [Fernandes] and Amit [Bhatia]. Together and in the
long-term, we’ll take this club forward.”
www.qpr.co.uk
MATCH
ODDS
Result
Albion Win: 5/6, QPR Win: 16/5, Draw: 13/5.
First Goalscorer Long 5/1,
Lukaku 5/1, Odemwingie 6/1, Fortune 7/1, Rosenberg 7/1, Cisse 7/1, Zamora 7/1,
Hoilett 9/1, Taarabt 9/1, Mackie 10/1, Dorrans 11/1, Gera 11/1, Morrison 11/1,
El Ghanassy 12/1, Ji-Sung 14/1, Wright-Phillips 14/1, Ephraim 18/1, Granero
18/1.
REFEREE
Michael Jones (Cheshire) - Refereed two
Albion games last season and both ended in defeat for the Baggies - The 2-1
defeat at home to Manchester United on the opening day of the season and the 3-2
defeat at home to Arsenal on the last day of the season.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are currently on general sale to Albion
fans. Queens Park Rangers' allocation of 1,650 tickets for the game
have now completely sold out.
WEATHER FORECAST
Sunny spells, 14°C
FIXTURE HISTORY
The first ever meeting between the two clubs was a friendly
match at Rangers' West Kilburn ground on 8 January 1898. The
game saw Albion run out 4-1 winners.
The first league meetings took place during the 1948/49
season. The first game, which took place at Loftus Road on November 6,
ended in a 2-0 win for the Baggies. Dave Walsh and Frank Hodgetts were the
scorers in front of a crowd of almost 25,000.
The return game at The
Hawthorns in April ended all-square at 1-1, Billy Elliott the Albion
goalscorer whilst Billy Pointon netted for the visitors.
Albion’s biggest win against
Rangers is 5-1, achieved during Albion's Championship winning season of 2007/08.
Kevin Phillips (2), Ishmael Miller, Robert Koren and captain Jonathan Greening
were the goalscorers for Tony Mowbray's men.
Another big win for the Baggies
came at Loftus Road in December 1968 when Albion, then under FA Cup Winning
manager Alan Ashman, strolled to a 4-0 victory. Ian Collard (2), Dennis Martin
and Ronnie Rees the goalscorers.
QPR's biggest win against the
Baggies is 3-1, achieved twice, first in August 1984 when Simon Stainrod (2) and
Terry Fenwick netted and then in March 2010 when former Albion loanee Jay
Simpson was amongst the Rangers' goalscorers.
Albion are unbeaten in their
last five home league games against Rangers, winning three and drawing twice.
LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS
Albion
1-0 Queens Park Rangers Barclays Premier League Saturday 14th April 2012,
3:00pm
Albion: Foster,
Jones, McAuley, Dawson, Ridgewell, Brunt, Mulumbu, Dorrans (Andrews 71), Thomas
(Scharner 80), Fortune (Long 59), Odemwingie. Subs not used: Daniels,
Shorey, Hurst, Cox.
Goalscorer: Dorrans 22
Booked: Mulumbu 50 (foul), Ridgwell 61 (time
wasting), Dorrans 70 (foul)
Queens
Park Rangers:
Kenny, Onuoha,
Ferdinand, Hill, Taiwo (Traore 77), Barton, Diakite, Derry (Wright-Phillips 56),
Mackie, Zamora, Taarabt (Helguson 75). Subs not used: Cerny, Gabbidon,
Buzsaky, Young.
Booked:
Diakite 56 (foul)
Attendance: 25,521
Referee: Jon Moss (West Yorkshire)
West Brom midfielder Graham
Dorrans added to QPR's relegation fears with a superb winner in the Barclays
Premier League clash at the Hawthorns. The Scotland international settled the
contest midway through the first half with a 30-yard strike. But QPR should have
picked up at least a point with Bobby Zamora causing plenty of problems but
spurning several opportunities.
Mark Hughes' side have strung together some impressive
results at Loftus Road
in recent weeks to revive their hopes of staying up. But they have now failed to
win in 11 away matches and picked up only two points.
Albion have now moved past the 40-point mark and can look forward
to a third successive season of top flight football. Youssouf Mulumbu made his
presence felt in midfield while left-back Liam Ridgewell again showed he was an
astute signing by Roy Hodgson from
Birmingham in January.
QPR started brightly and
Zamora went close to putting
them ahead after only two minutes. The England striker found himself with only
Ben Foster to beat after the ball ricocheted invitingly into his path. But
Foster was alert to the situation and came quickly off his line to block the
shot at the expense of a corner. Brunt had
Albion's first attempt on goal but his shot was smothered by Joey
Barton. Odemwingie had a good chance to end his five-game run without a goal
after Thomas had spotted his run - but the Nigerian international screwed his
low drive just past the far post. The only goal of the game came from Dorrans
after 22 minutes. The
Scotland international received the ball from Odemwingie 30 yards out and his
rising shot flew past Kenny into the roof of the net. QPR tried to respond and
Adel Taarabt found himself in a yard of space just outside the box but he
dragged his shot wide of the far post. A fine pass in between the Albion defence
played in Barton. whose ball across the danger area picked out Samba Diakite.
The midfielder's rising effort contained plenty of power but was a yard wide of
the mark. Zamora should have levelled after 39 minutes when he found himself
with a free header from a pinpoint Barton cross - but angled it just wide.
Foster then beat out a fierce drive from Zamora, who had worked under Albion
coach Hodgson at Fulham.
Mulumbu became the first player to be booked after 52 minutes
for bringing down Nedum Onuoha in full flight. Albion came close to doubling
their lead five minutes later when Odemwingie's reverse pass picked out the run
of Jones, whose low shot hit the base of a post. A deep corner from Taarabt was
seized onto by Barton in space but his curling effort was high and wide.
Ridgewell was booked for time-wasting when taking a throw-in, before a fine
tackle from Hill halted
Albion substitute Shane Long inside the box as he prepared to
shoot. Dorrans became the third
Albion player to be yellow carded for lunging at QPR substitute
Wright-Phillips - and he was immediately taken off and replaced by Keith
Andrews. Zamora's unhappy day continued when he was found in space by
Taarabt inside the Baggies box but sliced his shot, which hit the back of Jamie
Mackie. Kenny had to be alert to hold a dipping 25-yard free-kick from Brunt
away to his left, before Long should have made it 2-0 in injury-time only to
shoot wide.
Sporting Life
CURRENT CONNECTIONS
Rob Hulse spent two years at The Hawthorns after
joining from Crewe Alexandra in the summer of 2003. His first season at the club
was a success and he quickly became a fan favourite but with the club clinching
promotion to the Premier League he would find appearances harder to come by the
following season at the higher level. Hulse joined Leeds United on loan for the
last three months of the 2004/05 season before leaving to join them permanently
at the end of the season. Spells at Sheffield United and
Derby County followed before the
Crewe-born striker moved to
Loftus Road
in September 2010. His time at Rangers’ has not been a success and the player is
currently on loan at Charlton Athletic.
Current Baggies’ right-back Steven Reid spent a month
on loan at Loftus Road from Blackburn Rovers
during the 2009/10 season shortly before joining Albion whilst
Albion winger Jerome Thomas spent two spells on loan at Rangers from
Arsenal during 2002.
PAST
CONNECTIONS
Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for
both clubs are: Colin Anderson, Brett Angell, Gary Bannister, Paul Barron, Steve Burke,
Clive Clark, Danny Dichio, Jimmy Dugdale, Lloyd Dyer, Peter Eastoe, Wayne
Fereday, Danny Gabbidon, Allan Glover, Adam Haywood, Peter Hucker, Andy
King, Billy Law, Andy McDermott, Ishmael Miller, Paul Peschisolido, Nigel
Quashie, Alf Ridyard, Georges Santos, Ernie Shepherd, Jay Simpson, Garry
Thompson, Billy Thompson, Ben Watson, Ike Webb, Fred Wheldon, Bill
Williams.
Ray Harford had short spells as manager of both clubs during the
late 1990s; Gordon Clark, who was Baggies' boss from 1959-61, was
later assistant manager at Rangers; Former Albion player and manager
Don Howe later coached and managed QPR; Mike Kelly coached at
both clubs.
ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS QUEENS PARK RANGERS
VENUE |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Home |
19 |
10 |
6 |
3 |
35 |
20 |
Away |
17 |
6 |
3 |
8 |
19 |
19 |
Neutral |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
Total |
38 |
16 |
9 |
13 |
56 |
43 |
LAST
TEN MATCHES AGAINST QUEENS PARK RANGERS
DATE |
COMPETITION |
H/A |
F-A |
GOALSCORERS |
GATE |
Sat 14 Apr 2012 |
Premier League |
H |
1-0 |
Dorrans |
25,521 |
Sat 03 Dec 2011 |
Premier League |
A |
1-1 |
Long - Helguson |
17,290 |
Sat 06 Mar 2010 |
Championship |
A |
1-3 |
Brunt - Simpson, Connolly, Buzsaky |
14,578 |
Mon 14 Dec 2009 |
Championship |
H |
2-2 |
Thomas, Cox - Olsson (og), Gorkss |
21,565 |
Sun 04 May 2008 |
Championship |
A |
2-0 |
Kim, Brunt |
18,309 |
Sun 30 Sep 2007 |
Championship |
H |
5-1 |
Phillips 2, Miller, Koren, Greening - Ainsworth |
24,757 |
Sat 31 Mar 2007 |
Championship |
A |
2-1 |
Phillips, Gera - Blackstock |
14,784 |
Tue 31 Oct 2006 |
Championship |
H |
3-3 |
Ellington, Kamara 2 - Stewart, Gallen, Nygaard |
17,417 |
Sat 13 Jan 2001 |
League Division 1 |
A |
0-2 |
Plummer, Koejoe |
11,881 |
Mon 28 Aug 2000 |
League Division 1 |
H |
2-1 |
van Blerk, Hughes - Kiwomya |
14,831 |
|