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      MATCH PREVIEW

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

 

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