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      MATCH PREVIEW

EVERTON v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 24th August 2013, 3:00pm
Goodison Park

MATCH NOTES

This is the 158th league and cup meeting between Albion and Everton. The Toffees currently lead the way in the victory stakes with 65 wins compared to Albion's 58.

Albion's only win in their last 14 league matches at Goodison Park was a 4-1 victory in November 2010 under Roberto Di Matteo.

The two clubs have met once before on August 24, when in 1955 Albion beat Everton 2-0 at The Hawthorns thanks to two goals from Derek Kevan.

Albion's last game on this date came in 2010 when they faced Leyton Orient in a 2nd round Carling Cup tie at the Matchroom Stadium. The Baggies won 2-0.

Everton's last game on August 24 came in 2011 when they beat Sheffield United 3-1 in a Carling Cup 2nd round match at Goodison Park.

Albion's last six games: Southampton (H) 0-1; Bologna (H, Fr) 2-0; Cork City (A, Fr) 6-0; Genoa (N, Fr) 0-1; Atromitos (N, Fr) 3-1; Derby County (A, Fr) 2-0.

Everton's last six games: Norwich City (A) 2-2; Real Betis (H, Fr) 2-1; Valencia (N, Fr) 0-1; Real Madrid (N, Fr) 1-2; Juventus (N, Fr) 1-1, 6-5 on pens; Blackburn Rovers (A, Fr) 3-1.

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Nicolas Anelka is missing after the Baggies granted the French star indefinite compassionate leave following the death of his close friend and agent Eric Manasse.

New signing Scott Sinclair is almost certain to start with Steve Clarke possibly switching to a five man midfield.

Defender Steven Reid is out having suffered a knock in training whilst long-term injured Zoltan Gera, George Thorne and Adil Nabil remain sidelined although Thorne has this week returned to full training.

Squad: Foster, Myhill, Olsson, Popov, Ridgewell, Lugano, McAuley, Dawson, Jones, Tamas, Yacob, Morrison, Brunt, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Rosenberg, Long, Vydra, Berahino, Sinclair.

Everton

Defender Sylvain Distin is doubtful after suffering a knock at Norwich last week whilst midfielder Darron Gibson is rated only 50-50 to return following the knee injury suffered in pre-season.

Tony Hibbert could figure after returning to training but fellow defender Antolin Alcaraz (hamstring) is out.

Squad: Howard, Jagielka, Baines, Distin, Coleman, Osman, Fellaini, Barkley, Mirallas, Pienaar, Jelavic, Robles, Anichebe, Heitinga, Oviedo, Naismith, Gibson, Deulofeu, Koné, Stones, Vellios.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

I was looking at my squad the other day and comparing back to when we played Everton third game last season. We play them second game this season and the team I have in mind to start will be nine out of the XI that started last season. So, that’s not bad, because we beat them. People keep saying we haven’t got this and that - but what we have got is good.

“There’s no need to put ourselves under pressure. It’s only the second game of the season and there are nine other teams in the Premier League on zero points. It’s a difficult game but we think we’ve got enough to go there and get a good result for West Bromwich Albion - and that’s what we’re going to do.

"Normally a manager takes his style of play with him, whatever club he is at. The only difference I’ve seen in the Everton performances leading up to this game is there is a mixture under Roberto Martinez. Last year you understood how they were going to play, this year they’ve got another way to play. That probably makes it a little bit more complicated - but we love complicated challenges.

“Ross Barkley is a name who has been spoken about for a number of years, especially on Merseyside, where I was working for the other side not long ago. They always had high hopes and expectations for him. It’s probably taken him a little bit longer to fulfil his potential but now he is starting to do that and show he is a really good player. Seamus Coleman was a regular last season and we know him well. He is a very, very attacking player - similar to Leighton Baines - so they have two attacking full-backs.

“We know where their threats will come from.”

www.wba.co.uk

Everton boss Roberto Martinez:

"It's definitely up there [as a special moment]. The first friendly was special but the first competitive game will be even more special. It will be an incredible moment. But football is about players and not managers, and once you get into the competition all that matters is performing well and winning football matches, and we won't lose focus of that.

"The support of the fans is going to be vital and I'd rather they focused their energy towards the players than myself. Always the first home game is a great memory for a manager but the memory will be around the result and the performance and the relationship I can see between the fans and the players.

"We are always working towards that and making sure we keep up the levels we showed against Norwich and, if anything, get better in everything that we did. I think the performance at Norwich was very good in many aspects. But in football you can not be fully satisfied unless you win."

www.evertonfc.com

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 5/1, Everton Win: 4/7, Draw: 11/4.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Vydra 9/1, Long 9/1, Rosenberg 11/1, Berahino 12/1, Morrison 16/1, Sinclair 16/1, Brunt 18/1, Dorrans 18/1, Mulumbu 25/1.

Everton: Kone 11/2, Jelavic 11/2, Mirallas 7/1, Anichebe 7/1, Fellaini 8/1, Deulofeu 9/1, Naismith 11/1, Gueye 12/1, Pienaar 12/1, Baines 14/1, Osman 14/1, Barkley 14/1, Gibson 20/1.

REFEREE

Roger East (Wiltshire)

Refereed two Albion games last season, the 2-1 win over Sunderland at The Hawthorns in February and the 3-0 defeat at Fulham in September.

The Wiltshire official took charge of just one Everton game during the 2012/13 season, the 5-0 win at home to Leyton Orient in the Capital One Cup in August.

In 44 games last season, East issued 147 yellow cards and six red, one of which was Baggies' striker Peter Odemwingie at Craven Cottage.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are no longer available to Albion fans and supporters are advised not to travel to Goodison Park without tickets.

WEATHER FORECAST

Partly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain, 17°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

Both Albion and Everton are founder members of the Football League and the very first meeting between the two sides came during the league's inaugural season in 1888/89. The first game took place at Everton's Anfield Road ground in December, Albion running out 4-1 winners thanks to two goals from Billy Bassett and one apiece from Walter Perry and William Hendry. The return game at Stoney Lane saw Albion complete the double over the Merseysiders thanks to a 1-0 win in what was the last game of the season, Fred Crabtree the goalscorer.

Albion's biggest victory against Everton came in December 1935 at The Hawthorns, legendary striker W.G Richardson scoring two of the goals in a 6-1 stroll.

Other big wins for the Baggies' include 6-2 in March 1960 when Derek Kevan scored five of the goals, 5-0 in 1923 and 5-2 in 1919.

The Toffees' best result against Albion is 7-1, achieved in 1893 at Goodison Park, Jack Southworth scoring six of the goals.

Everton have also recorded 6-1, 6-2 and 6-3 victories against the Baggies over the years.

Albion's last victory against Everton at Goodison Park came in November 2010 under Roberto Di Matteo. Goals from Paul Scharner, Chris Brunt, Somen Tchoyi and Youssouf Mulumbu helped the Baggies record a 4-1 win, the club's biggest victory of the season.

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT GOODISON PARK

Everton 2-1 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Wednesday 30 January 2013, 7:45pm

Everton: Howard, Jagielka, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Fellaini, Neville, Osman, Mirallas (Gibson 64), Pienaar, Anichebe (Jelavić 83). Subs not used: Mucha, Oviedo, Naismith, Hitzlsperger, Gueye.

Goalscorers: Baines 29 & 45+2 (pen)

Albion: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Popov, Thorne (Yacob 43), Brunt, Dorrans, Morrison (Long 62), Thomas (Rosenberg 76), Lukaku. Subs not used: Myhill, Tamas, Ridgewell, Fortuné.

Goalscorer: Long 65

Booked: Yacob 61 (foul), Dorrans 80 (foul)

Attendance: 31,376

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)

Everton's Mr Reliable Leighton Baines was their unexpected matchwinner with two first-half goals as West Brom's poor run continued at Goodison Park. The left-back smashed one in from the edge of the area before converting a penalty - his 10th success from the spot to maintain his 100% Premier League record. Substitute Shane Long pulled a goal back midway through the second half but the Baggies, who had won just once in their previous 13 league visits, saw their recent slump extended to just one point from a possible 15.

Victory lightened the mood on the blue half of Merseyside somewhat after the collapse earlier in the day of an £8.6million deal for FC Twente midfielder Leroy Fer as the Dutch side refused to accept restructured payments after the player's medical highlighted an issue. Fans would also have been questioning manager David Moyes before kick-off after he dropped Nikica Jelavic. Even accounting for his lack of recent form the striker, substitute in a Premier League match for the first time since March 13, looked a bold one. However, Moyes probably reasoned the Croatia international, who had not scored against top-flight opposition in seven matches with his last strike being the last-minute winner against Tottenham on December 9, needed either a break or a wake-up call. But it was a surprise that in his absence Baines was the player to step up to the mark in front of goal, even if one was from the spot.

After West Brom's first attack, in which Graham Dorrans' shot was blocked by Sylvain Distin, the visitors appeared to run out of ideas very quickly. Right-back Billy Jones almost compounded their lack of adventure when his tackle on the edge of the area saw the ball cannon off Victor Anichebe and float dangerously wide of the post for what would have been a freakish own goal. Everton had also contributed little to a game which was flat for almost half-an-hour with Marouane Fellaini's shot on the turn against the upright from Anichebe's knockdown - via Baines' cross - their most threatening moment. The opening goal virtually came out of nowhere - which was precisely where West Brom's defence were - when the England international picked up Leon Osman's pass. With no tackle forthcoming the left-back advanced to the edge of the area before smashing a shot past Ben Foster. West Brom had George Thorne carried off on a stretcher just before half-time after a collision with Anichebe and it proved to be a double blow. Substitute Claudio Jacob's first significant involvement was to concede the penalty just four minutes after coming on. Steven Pienaar's backheel released Anichebe on the left of the area and the Argentina midfielder, who has missed most of the last eight weeks with injuries, brought him down. With a man like Baines on spot-kick duty it seems you are guaranteed a goal - and the 28-year-old did not disappoint by smashing home his second.

Romelu Lukaku, who had spent most of the opening 45 minutes running into offside positions, wasted West Brom's first chance of the second half when he was off target soon after the restart. Everton's left continued to be their most profitable avenue of attack and when Kevin Mirallas cut in he forced a low save out of Foster. The introduction of Long for James Morrison in the 62nd minute paid immediate dividends as within three minutes he had pulled one back. Lukaku's diagonal run saw him break clear of the defence and round goalkeeper Tim Howard but his cross-shot was bundled up into the air by John Heitinga and Long reacted quickest to head in. Finally West Brom found another gear and when Dorrans rattled the crossbar with a long-range free-kick they began to sense their chance. But Everton proved they could threaten from set-pieces with Pienaar's curling free-kick tipped over from Gibson. The South African's next contribution should have brought the hosts' third goal but when his deflected low shot rebounded off the post Leon Osman blazed over the open goal from six yards. Jelavic finally replaced Anichebe with six minutes remaining but could not make an impact in that time. Fortunately for Everton he was not required, despite some late Baggies pressure, as they closed the gap on fourth-placed Tottenham to a point.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

None.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Brett Angell, Laurie Bell, Walter Boyes, David Burrows, John Cameron, Kevin Campbell, Stan Davies, Thomas Dilly, Peter Eastoe, Albert Flewitt, Tony Grant, Andy Gray, Asa Hartford, Paul Holmes, William Jordan, Kevin Kilbane, Andy King, Ken McNaught, Bruce Rankin, Sid Rawlings, Fred Rouse, John Thomas, Mickey Thomas, Imre Varadi and Steve Watson.

Wilf Dixon was a trainer at both clubs.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS EVERTON

 VENUE P W D  L F A
 Home 75 40 18 17 149 85
 Away 79 16 16 47 97 168
 Neutral 3 2 0 1 3 2
 Total 157 58 34 65 249 255

LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST EVERTON

 DATE  COMPETITION H/A F-A  GOALSCORERS  GATE
 Wed 30 Jan 2013  Premier League A 1-2  Long - Baines 2 (1 pen)  31,376
 Sat 01 Sep 2012  Premier League H 2-0  Long, McAuley  25,383
 Sat 31 Mar 2012  Premier League A 0-2  McAuley (og), Anichebe  32,051
 Sun 01 Jan 2012  Premier League H 0-1  Anichebe  23,038
 Wed 21 Sep 2011  League Cup A 1-2 aet  Brunt (pen) - Fellaini, Neville  17,647
 Sat 14 May 2011  Premier League H 1-0  Mulumbu  25,838
 Sat 27 Nov 2010  Premier League A 4-1  Scharner, Brunt, Tchoyi, Mulumbu - Cahill  35,237
 Sat 28 Feb 2009  Premier League A 0-2  Cahill, Saha  33,898
 Sat 23 Aug 2008  Premier League H 1-2  Bednar (pen) - Osman, Yakubu  26,190
 Sun 07 May 2006  Premier League A 2-2  Gera, Martinez - Anichebe, Ferguson  39,671

 

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