WEST BROMWICH ALBION v READING
Barclays Premier League Saturday 22nd September 2012, 3pm
The Hawthorns
TEAM
NEWS
Albion
Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie starts a three
game ban following his sending-off at Fulham last week. His place in the team
looks likely to go to either Romelu Lukaku or Markus Rosenberg.
Steven Reid could return following a hamstring injury but recent signing Goran Popov is out due to a groin problem.
Midfielder Jerome Thomas is still missing following knee surgery.
Squad: Foster, Olsson, McAuley, Ridgewell, Reid,
Jones, Dawson, Yacob, Mulumbu, Morrison, Gera, Long, Fortune, Myhill, El Ghanassy, Lukaku, Jara, Dorrans, Brunt, Rosenberg, Tamas, Thorne,
Hurst.
Reading
Former Albion star Jason Roberts misses out due to
a calf injury whilst Jimmy Kebe (hamstring) and goalkeeper Adam Federici (knee)
are both unlikely to be fit.
Squad: McCarthy, Gorkss, Pearce, Harte, Gunter,
Karacan, Guthrie, Leigertwood, McAnuff, Pogrebnyak, McCleary,
Federici, Taylor, Shorey, Tabb, Mariappa, Le Fondre,
Hunt, Morrison, Church, Robson-Kanu, Gunnarsson.
QUOTES
Albion head coach Steve Clarke:
“Reading is a good club, well
organised from top to bottom. There is a really good structure and Brian
McDermott has been there for a long time and knows the club inside out.
“He’s done a fantastic job to get them into the Premier League having suffered a
real heartbreak in the play-offs the year before last. To get them up the way he
did in the manner he did was a great achievement so they will be tough
opponents.
“They’re a strong team, they’re aggressive and they like to put you under
pressure.
“Three games in for them and four games for us, I am sure they’ll be thinking
that they need to find a result from somewhere so we have to be on our guard
that the first win in the Premier League is not against us.”
www.wba.co.uk
MATCH
ODDS
Result
Albion Win: 4/5, Reading Win: 5/2, Draw: 5/2.
First Goalscorer
Long 5/1, Lukaku 5/1, Fortune 7/1, Rosenberg 7/1, Pogrebnyak 7/1, Morrison 8/1,
Le Fondre 8/1, Roberts 8/1, Brunt 9/1, Dorrans 9/1, Gera 9/1, Hunt 9/1, El
Ghanassy 10/1, Church 11/1, McCleary 12/1, Kebe 14/1, Robson-Kanu 14/1, Harte
18/1, McAnuff 18/1.
REFEREE
Chris Foy (Merseyside) - Took charge of three
Albion games last season, all at The Hawthorns - the 2-0 win against Wolves in
October, the 4-0 win over Sunderland in February, and the 3-1 defeat against
Newcastle United in March.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for this Category B clash are now on
general sale to Baggies' fans. A very limited number of tickets for away
supporters will be on sale at the away kiosk next to A block.
WEATHER FORECAST
Sunny spells, 13°C
FIXTURE HISTORY
The first ever meeting of Albion and Reading came at Elm Park
in November 1901, a friendly game ending in a 1-1 draw, 'Chippy' Simmons the
Baggies' goalscorer.
The first league meetings between the two sides took place in
the Second Division during the 1927/28 season. The first game, in September at
Elm Park, ended in a 4-1 victory for Albion, Jimmy Cookson, Arthur Fitton, Tommy
Glidden and Charlie Wilson the visitors' scorers. The return game at The
Hawthorns in January saw another eight goals scored, the game finishing 5-3 to
Albion. The aforementioned Cookson scored four of the goals and would go on to
become a regular thorn in the side of Reading over the following years, scoring 12 goals
in all games against them.
Albion's biggest victory over the Royals is 5-0, achieved in March 1929 at The
Hawthorns. Cookson (2), Fitton, Jimmy Edwards and Glidden scoring the Baggies'
goals.
Reading's best result against
Albion, a 6-3 victory, came in a Football League South game at
Elm Park in May 1941.
Albion are unbeaten at The Hawthorns in eight league
games against Reading, their last loss being a 1-0 defeat in February
1988. They have however lost games in both the League Cup (1995) and FA
Cup (2010) in that time.
Shane Long scored
the winning goal the last time the two sides met - for Reading in a 1-0 FA
Cup win at the Madejski Stadium in January 2011.
The game will be the first ever meeting of the two
clubs at Premier League level.
LAST
MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS
Albion 2-3 Reading (After Extra Time) FA
Cup 5th Round Replay Wednesday 24th February 2010, 7.45pm
Albion:
Carson, Zuiverloon, Meite, Tamas,
Mattock, Koren, Dorrans (Morrison 70), Mulumbu, Cox, Bednar (Wood 39), Moore (Cech
78). Subs Not Used: Kiely, Olsson, Brunt, Slory.
Goalscorers: Koren - 6, 47
Booked:
Carson - 90 (timewasting), Cech - 108 (foul)
Reading:
Federici, Griffin,
Ingimarsson, Mills (Pearce 72), Bertrand, McAnuff, Tabb (Henry 120), Sigurdsson,
Kebe, Howard, Church (Robson-Kanu 103). Subs Not Used: Hamer, Gunnarsson,
Matejovsky, Rasiak.
Goalscorers:
Kebe - 9, Howard - 90+2, Sigurdsson - 95
Booked:
Ingimarsson - 60 (foul), Tabb - 90+1 (foul), Kebe -
120 (foul)
Sent-Off:
McAnuff - Full Time (Violent Conduct)
Attendance: 13,985
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire).
Reading booked an FA Cup quarter-final clash against Aston
Villa after staging a remarkable comeback to see off a West Brom side who were
themselves within a minute of a meeting their midlands neighbours. Gylfi
Sigurdsson proved to be the matchwinner in the fifth minute of extra time, just
moments after Brian Howard's strike in the third of four stoppage-time minutes
at the end of normal time had brought a dramatic end to the fifth-round replay.
It proved to be an historic night for
Reading, with their first win at
The Hawthorns since 1995 securing their place in the last eight for the first
time since 1927. But it could have been so different for a shell-shocked Albion
side who looked destined for their second quarter-final place in three seasons.
The most relieved man in the Black Country must surely have been Royals
goalkeeper Adam Federici, whose calamitous 47th-minute gaff in letting Robert
Koren's shot squirm horribly through his body looked to have proved the
difference. Koren had earlier handed the Baggies a sixth-minute lead in the
fifth-round replay before Jimmy Kebe levelled almost immediately - both players
also scored the first two goals in the initial 2-2 draw between the two sides at
the Madejski Stadium. The final whistle was greeted by a mass melee involving
players, stewards and officials, with a Reading player appearing to be shown a
red card.
Slovenia captain Koren had
already twice gone close when he opened the scoring after just six minutes.
Roman Bednar received the ball 25 yards out and his low drive
was parried by Federici, with Ryan Bertrand clearing Luke Moore's rebound off
the line. But the Royals full-back could only send the ball straight into the
path of Koren who finally found the net at the third time of asking. But
Albion's lead did not last long
as Kebe, who scored after nine seconds in the first meeting, side-footed home
from six yards after Scott Carson had failed to keep hold of Jay Tabb's low shot
across the face of goal in a rip-roaring start to the tie. But the frenetic
opening 15 minutes was as good as it got in the first half, with no real
goalmouth action of note in the remaining half hour.
Yet the 13,985 inside The Hawthorns were treated to a
second-half opening similar to the first although this time
Albion took just two minutes to
find the net. And they did so in hugely fortuitous fashion.
Youssouf Mulumbu found Koren and he turned on the edge of the
area before firing a low shot that went straight through Federici's grasp and
into the back of the net.
Reading, however, almost
repeated their first-half feat but Sigurdsson's dipping long-range effort came
back off the crossbar. The Iceland Under-21 international was presented with a
second opportunity to level the tie in the 69th minute after Gabriel Tamas's
mistake but he could only fire straight at Carson. An ordinary final 20 minutes
followed with West Brom seemingly destined for a place in the last eight, that
was until Howard silenced the home crowd in the third minute of stoppage time.
And there was worse to come for
Albion in extra
time as Sigurdsson settled matters with a sublime curling effort from 25 yards -
ensuring West Brom were added to
Reading's
list of scalps in this season's competition, with the Royals having already seen
off Liverpool and Burnley.
Sporting Life
CURRENT CONNECTIONS
Republic of Ireland international striker Shane Long moved from Reading
to The Hawthorns in August 2011 for a fee rumoured to be in the region of
£4.5million, rising to a possible £6.5million. Long started his career at Cork
City before joining Reading in June 2005. He became a popular figure at the
Madejski Stadium, scoring almost 50 goals in his six years at the club.
Following his move to the West Midlands Long made a successful start to his
Albion career, scoring on his debut against Manchester United and then in his
second game for the club at Chelsea.
Jason Roberts had a very successful three years at The Hawthorns after
joining the club from Bristol Rovers in July 2000. His goals helped the club
reach the play-offs in 2000/01 and then achieve promotion in 2001/02. The
player joined Portsmouth on loan at the start of the 2003/04 season before
joining Wigan Athletic permanently in January 2004. In January of this year
Roberts moved to Reading on an 18 month contract.
Former England left-back Nicky Shorey joined
Albion from local rivals Aston Villa in August 2010. He spent two years at The
Hawthorns but was never really a popular figure amongst fans, mainly due to
making a number of mistakes which led to goals. Shorey rejoined Reading after
his release from Albion, after already spending a successful seven years at the
club from 2001 to 2008.
Right-back Shaun Cummings played four games
for Albion whilst on loan from Chelsea in August 2009. He signed for Reading
permanently the following month.
PAST
CONNECTIONS
Amongst the
players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Paul
Barron, John Chadburn, Neil Clement, Simon Cox, Percy Freeman, George
James, Harry Kinsell, Graham Potter, Brian Quailey, Sam Sodje, and Phil
Whitehead.
Jack Smith managed both
clubs whilst former Albion boss Ray Harford spent a short spell
coaching at Reading. John Gorman held the role of assistant manager
at both clubs.
ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS READING
VENUE |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Home |
18 |
12 |
2 |
4 |
36 |
17 |
Away |
19 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
31 |
31 |
Total |
37 |
17 |
9 |
11 |
67 |
48 |
LAST
TEN MATCHES AGAINST READING
DATE |
COMPETITION |
H/A |
F-A |
GOALSCORERS |
GATE |
Sat 08 Jan 2011 |
FA Cup |
A |
0-1 |
Long |
13,005 |
Sat 27 Mar 2010 |
Championship |
A |
1-1 |
Tamas - Sigurdsson |
20,515 |
Wed 24 Feb 2010 |
FA Cup |
H |
2-3 aet |
Koren 2 - Kebe, Howard, Sigurdsson |
13,985 |
Sat 13 Feb 2010 |
FA Cup |
A |
2-2 |
Koren, Mattock - Kebe, Church |
18,008 |
Sat 17 Oct 2009 |
Championship |
H |
3-1 |
Thomas 2, Mulumbu - Mills |
20,935 |
Tue 17 Jan 2006 |
FA Cup |
A |
2-3 aet |
Chaplow 2 - Lita 3 |
16,737 |
Sat 07 Jan 2006 |
FA Cup |
H |
1-1 |
Gera (pen) - Doyle (pen) |
19,197 |
Sat 01 May 2004 |
League Division 1 |
A |
0-1 |
Sidwell |
20,619 |
Sat 22 Nov 2003 |
League Division 1 |
H |
0-0 |
|
22,839 |
Fri 26 Dec 1997 |
League Division 1 |
A |
1-2 |
Kilbane - McDermott (og), Williams |
10,154 |
|