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."
www.sportinglife.com
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 |
|