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      MATCH PREVIEW

WEST BROMWICH ALBION v STOKE CITY
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 1st December 2012, 3:00pm
The Hawthorns

MATCH NOTES

This is Albion's best start to a Premier League season by 10 points from their previous best of 16 in 2010/11. It’s also the Baggies’ best start to a top-flight campaign, with 14 games played, since the 1978/79 season.

Chris Brunt will make his 200th appearance and Zoltan Gera will make his 150th league appearance for the Baggies if they play a part in the game.

Albion have conceded just five goals at The Hawthorns this season - only Stoke have a better defensive home record, with two goals conceded. 

Only Manchester City (10) have conceded fewer goals than Stoke (12) in the top flight this season.

Albion's last six games: L W W W W L

Stoke City's last six games: W W D W L D

TEAM NEWS

Albion

With Zoltan Gera recovering from the groin injury that ruled him out of the 3-1 defeat against Swansea in midweek, Steve Clarke has a fully fit squad to choose from with the exception of goalkeeper Ben Foster who is recovering from a groin operation. Boaz Myhill will again deputise for Foster.

Squad from: Myhill, Daniels, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Tamas, Jara Reyes, Popov, Ridgewell, Yacob, Brunt, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Morrison, El Ghanassy, Gera, Fortune, Odemwingie, Lukaku, Long, Rosenberg.

Stoke City

Stoke are likely to be without Peter Crouch, who has undergone dental surgery after losing three teeth in a challenge with Newcastle's Fabricio Coloccini in midweek.

Andy Wilkinson (back) and Michael Owen (hamstring) are also doubts whilst Rory Delap (hernia) and Mark Wilkinson (broken leg) are definitely out.

Squad from: Begovic, Sorensen, Huth, Shawcross, Cameron, Upson, Shotton, Wilkinson, Whelan, Etherington, Palacios, Jones, Jerome, Crouch, Walters, Kightly, Adam, Edu, Nzonzi, Ness, Whitehead, Owen.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

"Stoke is always a hard game, they always cause their opponents problems, but it is a challenge for the players.

"Tony Pulis has done a fantastic job establishing Stoke in the Premier League and they play better football than they are given credit for.

"We haven't got a good home record against them but this is a different group of players, and we've got a good home record this season."

Stoke boss Tony Pulis:

"They're a bit like Newcastle were last year. They've got a great spirit in the team, the work ethic is first class. I've watched them twice and they've played exceptionally well. I'm really pleased for Steve.

"We won't be taking anything for granted, they are one of the form teams in the Premier League. Their home record is fantastic so we know how difficult it's going to be for us.

"West Brom's a great football club, it's a lovely stadium to go to, it'll be a good atmosphere there and we'll look forward to the game."

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MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: evens, Stoke City Win: 5/2, Draw: 12/5.

First Goalscorer

Long 5/1, Lukaku 11/2, Odemwingie 6/1, Crouch 7/1, Fortuné 8/1, Rosenberg 8/1, Owen 9/1, Walters 9/1, Brunt 10/1, Gera 10/1, Morrison 10/1, Jerome 10/1, K Jones 10/1, Dorrans 11/1, El Ghanassy 11/1, Adam 12/1, Kightly 12/1, Etherington 16/1, Mulumbu 18/1, Edu 18/1.

REFEREE

Kevin Friend (Leicestershire) - Refereed two Albion games last season - The 4-0 defeat away to Manchester City in April, and the 2-2 draw at Bolton Wanderers in May.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets will remain on general sale to home fans only until the 3pm kick-off.

Seats for the Category B clash are priced adults £25, seniors £20, under-21s/students £15 and under-17s £10. These prices apply to all stands, apart from the West Stand, where no concessionary tickets are available.

The Smethwick End has sold out but there is availability in all other stands.

WEATHER FORECAST

Sunny but cold, 2°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

Both Albion and Stoke were founder members of the Football League and the first league meeting of the two clubs came at Stoke on the opening day of the competition's inaugural season of 1888/89. Albion won the game 2-0 and in doing so became the first team to top the table, Joe Wilson and George Woodhall the Albion scorers. The return game in December saw the scoreline repeated with Wilson once again on the scoresheet along with Billy Bassett.

Albion's biggest win over Stoke came in December 1988, the Baggies running out 6-0 winners at The Hawthorns with Don Goodman, John Paskin and Gary Robson all scoring two goals each. Other big wins for Albion include 6-2 (1965), 5-1 (1933) 5-2 (1970) and 5-3 (1964). The latter game saw Albion full-back Bobby Cram score a hat-trick.

City's biggest win over Albion came at Stoke in February 1937 when the Potters inflicted Albion's heaviest ever league defeat, strolling to a 10-3 victory with Freddie Steele scoring five of the goals.

Albion's last victory against Stoke at The Hawthorns came in September 2003 when a goal from Scott Dobie was enough to give Albion a 1-0 victory.

Albion have an awful recent record against Stoke, having won just two of the last 29 league meetings of the two clubs. Stoke have also won four and lost just one of the six Premier League encounters between the sides.

The Baggies' 2-1  victory at the Britannia Stadium in January was their first on Stoke soil for thirty years, the last coming in September 1982 when goals from Cyrille Regis, Peter Eastoe and Ally Brown gave Ron Wylie's men  a 3-0 win.

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS

Albion 0-1 Stoke City
Barclays Premier League
Sunday 28 August 2011, 3:00pm

Albion: Foster, Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Shorey, Brunt (Thomas 66), Scharner, Mulumbu, Morrison (Dorrans 80), Tchoyi (Fortune 77), Long. Subs not used: Fulop, Dawson, Jones, Cox.

Stoke City: Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Woodgate, Wilson (Wilkinson 37), Pennant (Shotton 75), Whelan, Whitehead, Etherington (Pugh 67), Walters, Jones. Subs not used: Sorensen, Collins, Soares, Upson.

Goalscorer: Shotton 89

Attendance: 22,909

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

There appeared little danger when Jonathan Walters pumped a harmless ball into the box but Foster and Tamas allowed Shotton to nip in and score with only a minute remaining of normal time. The goal earned unbeaten Stoke their first league win of the campaign, after two draws, and means Albion have lost their opening three matches. Until then it looked as if Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic's superb save from Shane Long would be the most notable action. The Bosnian international's reflex first-half stop denied summer signing Long a third goal in three games. West Brom were the better side in the first half, with captain Chris Brunt's crosses a constant threat, but Stoke weathered the storm and Shotton's late strike settled the match in their favour. Jonathan Woodgate produced another fine defensive display for the Potters after his move from Tottenham. In midfield West Brom's Youssouf Mulumbu and Stoke's Dean Whitehead took the honours.

The first decent opportunity fell to West Brom after good play by Somen Tchoyi who retained his place after Peter Odemwingie suffered a recurrence of his ankle problem. He used his physical strength to hold off the challenge of Ryan Shawcross and his cross was met by Brunt but the Albion skipper sent his header wide. Paul Scharner escaped the marking of Woodgate to connect with a Brunt free-kick but his powerful header was directed straight at Begovic. A superb save from Begovic prevented West Brom taking the lead after 12 minutes. Tchoyi delivered a testing cross from the left flank and Long's bullet header from six yards drew a fine stop from Begovic. West Brom were looking the more likely to break the deadlock and Mulumbu volleyed over from the edge of the box after Woodgate had half-cleared a Nicky Shorey centre. The home side continued to look more threatening and won a free-kick just outside the Stoke box after Walters fouled Tchoyi. Brunt's free-kick completely wrong-footed Begovic but flew inches wide. The visitors were forced to make a change after 36 minutes when Marc Wilson limped off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and was replaced by Andy Wilkinson. He slotted in at right-back with Huth reverting to the left-back role vacated by Wilson.

Stoke created their first worthwhile opening of the game after 49 minutes. Glenn Whelan took a pass from Walters in his stride and his low shot flew just wide. Chances were at a premium with play becoming more scrappy. Tchoyi found himself in space 20 yards out after good play by Shorey with the overlapping Scharner completely unmarked to his right. But Tchoyi went for the spectacular goal himself and curled his shot past the post. Brunt was substituted after 65 minutes and replaced by Jerome Thomas. Etherington made way for Danny Pugh a minute later, with Shotton taking over from Jermaine Pennant with 15 minutes remaining. There was a rare moment of excitement when Tchoyi volleyed just wide after Scharner had nodded a cross from Steven Reid invitingly into his path. It was Tchoyi's last action after a disappointing second-half performance before he was replaced by Marc-Antoine Fortune. West Brom forced three successive corners in a late spell of pressure but could not find a way through - and then came Shotton's decisive intervention.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Baggies' keeper Ben Foster started his professional career with Stoke but failed to make a single first team appearance.

Current Albion assistant head coach Kevin Keen spent over six years as a Stoke City player.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: George Baddeley, Gary Bannister, Paul Barron, Tommy Broad, Fred Brown, Garth Crooks, Neil Cutler, Bill Davies, Paul Dyson, Wayne Ebanks, Fred Fenton, Ross Fielding, Sean Flynn, Tony Ford, Ricardo Fuller, Gary Hackett, Graham Harbey, Willie Hendry, Carl Hoefkens, Russell Hoult, Geoff Hurst, Joe Johnson, Tony Kelly, Neil Mackenzie, Steve Parkin, Paul Peschisolido, Graham Potter, David Powell, Paul Reece, Brian Rice, Fred Rouse, Maurice Setters, Barry Siddall, Larus Sigurdsson, Andy Smith, Andrew Smith, Derek Statham, Mickey Thomas, Isaiah Turner and Gavin Ward.

Gary Megson and Brian Little have managed both clubs; Denis Smith and Brian Talbot both played for Stoke and managed Albion, Talbot also playing for the Baggies; Richie Barker managed Stoke and later became Chief Scout at The Hawthorns; Former Albion midfielder Asa Hartford had a spell as Stoke's assistant manager; Bill Asprey, who played for and managed Stoke, was a coach at The Hawthorns during Don Howe's reign as Albion manager.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS STOKE CITY

 VENUE P W D  L F A
 Home 67 32 13 22 124 82
 Away 65 10 20 35 65 121
 Total 132 42 33 57 189 203

LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST STOKE CITY

DATE COMPETITION H/A F-A GOALSCORERS GATE
Sat 21 Jan 2012 Premier League A 2-1 Morrison, Dorrans - Jerome 26,865
Sun 28 Aug 2011 Premier League H 0-1 Shotton 22,909
Mon 28 Feb 2011 Premier League A 1-1 Vela - Delap 25,019
Sat 20 Nov 2010 Premier League H 0-3 Etherington (pen), Walters 2 (1 pen) 24,164
Sat 04 Apr 2009 Premier League H 0-2 Fuller, Beattie 26,277
Sat 22 Nov 2008 Premier League A 0-1 Sidibe 26,613
Sat 22 Dec 2007 Championship A 1-3 Bednar - Fuller 3 18,420
Wed 03 Oct 2007 Championship H 1-1 Barnett - Shawcross 20,048
Sat 07 Apr 2007 Championship H 1-3 Koumas - Fuller, Greening (og), Parkin 20,386
Sat 25 Nov 2006 Championship A 0-1 Higginbotham (pen) 18,282
 
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