WEST BROMWICH ALBION v SWANSEA CITY
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 9th March 2013, 3:00pm
The Hawthorns

MATCH NOTES

Albion have lost all three meetings between the clubs at Premier League level.

Swansea have failed to score in six of their last seven Premier League away games.

Albion are attempting to win their ninth home league game of the season, a feat they have not achieved in top-flight football since the 1984/85 season.

Albion's last six games: Chelsea (A) 0-1; Sunderland (H) 2-1; Liverpool (A) 1-0; Tottenham Hotspur (H) 0-1; Everton (A) 1-2; Aston Villa (H) 2-2

Swansea City's last six games: Newcastle United (H) 1-0; Bradford City (N LC) 5-0; Liverpool (A) 0-5; QPR (H) 4-1; West Ham United (A) 0-1; Sunderland (A) 0-0

TEAM NEWS

Albion

The Baggies welcome back the trio of Chris Brunt, Romelu Lukaku and Goran Popov after they all missed last week’s game at Stamford Bridge.

Shane Long is a major doubt for Steve Clarke’s men though after suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury.

Squad from: Foster, Myhill, Daniels, Reid, Jones, Olsson, McAuley, Tamas, Ridgewell, Popov, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Yacob, Brunt, Morrison, Thomas, Lukaku, Long, Fortune, Odemwingie, Rosenberg, Sawyers, Brown.

Swansea City

The Swans will be without midfielder Kemy Agustien and defender Chico Flores who are both injured.

Squad from: Vorm, Bartley, Tate, Williams, Britton, Michu, Hernandez, Dyer, Lamah, Routledge, Monk, Shechter, Moore, De Guzman, Tiendalli, Rangel, Ki, Tremmel, Gower, Davies.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

“It was a disappointment down there because it came on the back of four fantastic wins for us. We had had a great month and I think it just rocked us a little bit. But you have to take your hat off to Swansea. In the first 30 minutes that night I thought they were unplayable. That is probably as good as anybody has played against us all season, so that gives us something to get our teeth into and a little incentive to make sure we get a better result this weekend.

“They’re a good side. You look at their name, and the fact this is their second season in the division, and people can think ‘it’s only Swansea’. But that’s wrong. They are a really good team with really good players. They have a way of playing that has developed over the last four or five years with a lot of the same players still there, and there are some really good additions this year, so they are a team to be respected.

“I’d like to think that our players are more on their guard, that they know what to expect from Swansea. They know the type of football they play and I would like to think that they do cast their mind back to that game, learn some lessons from it, and make sure we’re ready this week. We will be looking at different things and different ideas. Hopefully we can find away that is slightly different to how we've played against them before and will cause them a few problems, and this time we can get a better result.

“Michael has done well. He’s an experienced manager. It’s not his first job. He’s had other good jobs, he’s always done okay, and he has used the Spanish market, that he knew well, to add to his squad with De Guzman, Michu, Flores and Hernandez, and he has adapted very well to the Premier League. He has understood the teams and the way his team need to play to get results. So compliments to him.

“We've been neck and neck all season in the league. They managed to put together a cup run. We had hoped we would do this year but didn't manage to do. Hopefully that will give us a target for next year because you see the sort of accolades they have received. They get all the headlines, and deservedly so, because they have managed to win one of the few domestic trophies going around - and that's what we have to aim for here at Albion.”

www.wba.co.uk

Swans' manager Michael Laudrup:

“It is a game between two of the surprise packages of the season. Both teams are seven points clear of tenth place, and that is really positive.

“They (West Brom) have done brilliantly this season, especially at home and they have a lot of talent and speed, in particular with (Romelu) Lukaku.

“We always like to have the ball but they are very good on the counter attack so we have to be careful. But we have to go there and play the way we always do and look to get a positive result.”

www.swanseacity.net

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 6/5, Swansea City Win: 11/5, Draw: 12/5.

First Goalscorer

Lukaku 9/2, Long 11/2, Michu 6/1, Odemwingie 7/1, Fortune 10/1, Morrison 10/1, Rosenberg 10/1, Moore 10/1, Shechter 10/1, Dyer 12/1, de Guzman 12/1, Lamah 12/1, Hernandez 12/1, Routledge 14/1, Brunt 16/1, Dorrans 16/1, Thomas 16/1, Sung-Yeung 18/1, Mulumbu 20/1.

REFEREE

Lee Mason (Lancashire)

Mason has taken charge of one Albion game this season, ironically it was the first meeting of the two clubs at the Liberty Stadium back in November, a game that ended in a 3-1 defeat for the Baggies.

He refereed five Albion games last season - The 2-1 defeat away at Chelsea in August, the 2-2 draw at Sunderland in October, the 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool also in October, the 0-0 draw at home to Manchester City in December and finally the 5-1 thrashing of Wolves at Molineux in February.

The Lancashire official also took charge of Swansea's 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa earlier this season.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are on general sale to home supporters.

WEATHER FORECAST

Cloudy but dry, 6°C

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS

Albion 1-2 Swansea City
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 4 February 2012, 3:00pm

Albion: Foster, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Shorey, Morrison, Dorrans (Cox 71), Mulumbu (Scharner 64), Thomas (Tchoyi 72), Fortune, Odemwingie. Subs not used: Fulop, Ridgewell, Andrews, Jones.

Goalscorer: Fortune 54

Booked: Morrison 79 (foul), Shorey 90 (dissent)

Swansea City: Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Caulker, Taylor, Britton, Allen, Sigurdsson, Dyer (Routledge 88), Graham, Sinclair. Subs not used: Tremmel, Monk, McEachran, Lita, Moore, Agustien.

Goalscorers: Sigurdsson 55, Graham 59

Booked: Britton 43 (foul)

Attendance: 24,274

Referee: Jon Moss (West Yorkshire)

Swansea's on-loan midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson played a major role in Brendan Rogers' side coming from behind to register only their second Barclays Premier League away win of the season at West Brom. The Iceland international, who joined from Hoffenheim last month until the end of the season, cancelled out Marc-Antoine Fortune's opener and laid on the winner for Danny Graham. The visitors dominated for long spells as they followed up their 1-1 home draw against Chelsea in mid-week with another impressive performance. But Albion's woeful home record continued and they have collected just eight points at The Hawthorns compared to 18 on their travels. Roy Hodgson's side were often left chasing shadows with Sigurdsson and Joe Allen pulling the strings in midfield and 10-goal Graham a constant threat.

Swansea were soon into their stride and created the first opportunity of the game. Sigurdsson's shot was blocked from an Allen corner and the follow-up attempt from Angel Rangel was deflected just wide. Baggies midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu was caught in possession and was relieved to see Allen drag his shot past the post. James Morrison brought Sigurdsson down 25 yards out and the Swansea player took the free-kick himself and sent it just wide. In a rare West Brom attack Gareth McAuley headed wide from a Nicky Shorey cross. Peter Odemwingie's control then let him down when he was found in space by Jerome Thomas. The threatening Graham missed a good chance to put Swansea ahead after half an hour. Graham shrugged off the challenge of McAuley when challenging for a Leon Britton free-kick. But, from 12 yards out he shot wide when he should have at least tested Ben Foster. Albion enjoyed their best spell approaching half-time with Sigurdsson blocking a goal-bound flick from Jonas Olsson. Michel Vorm was alert to hold onto an Olsson flick from a Graham Dorrans free-kick. Britton was booked for bringing down Thomas and Swansea appealed in vain for a penalty after a challenge by McAuley on Scott Sinclair. Olsson was looking Albion's most threatening player at set pieces and his header was blocked from a Dorrans corner.

But it was against the run of play when Fortune put West Brom ahead after 53 minutes. A Dorrans corner was flicked on by Olsson and at the far post Fortune had time to steady himself before drilling the ball into the corner of the net. Swansea needed only two minutes to draw level through Sigurdsson.

Britton's ball released the over-lapping Neil Taylor and his low cross was side-footed past Foster by Sigurdsson. The game turned around with Graham putting Swansea in front after 59 minutes. This time Sigurdsson was the creator with a low ball to the near post and Graham made no mistake for his 10th goal of the season. Odemwingie was guilty of a glaring miss when he shot over with the goal at his mercy after a mis-hit effort from Dorrans had landed in his path. Then Paul Scharner failed to make proper contact on his shot from 10 yards out after Somen Tchoyi had pulled the ball back into his path. Morrison was booked for a foul on Britton as Swansea continued to look the more likely to score. Olsson blocked a shot from the impressive Sigurdsson but in injury-time Vorm denied Fortune to prevent an undeserved Albion equaliser.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Striker Luke Moore spent a very unsuccessful three years at Albion after signing from Aston Villa, initially on loan, in February 2008.

Swans' defender Ashley Williams was in the youth system at The Hawthorns during the late 1990s before being released at the age of 16.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Paul Agnew, Kwame Ampadu, Paul Anderson, Craig Beattie, Harry Boston, Walter Boyd, Fred Buck, Arthur Cook, Ted Crowe, Robbie Dennison, Roy Finch, Jack Haines, Carl Heggs, Ivor Jones, Des Lyttle, Amos Lloyd, Tudor Martin, Tony Millington, Stewart Phillips, Ronnie Rees, David Stewart, James Thomas, Kim Wassell and Colin West.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS SWANSEA CITY