MANCHESTER CITY v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Monday 21st April, 2014, 8pm
Etihad Stadium

MATCH NOTES

The game is the 145th league and cup meeting between the two clubs. City currently have the edge in terms of victories with 61 compared to Albion's 54.

Albion's last game on this date took place in 2003 when they lost 3-2 to Spurs at The Hawthorns in a Premier League clash. The Baggies' last victory on April 21 came in 2002 when goals from Darren Moore and Bob Taylor gave Gary Megson's side a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at The Hawthorns, a result that saw Albion promoted to the Premier League for the first time.

City's last game on this date came last year when they suffered a 3-1 Premier League defeat away at Spurs.

Albion and City have met three times previously on April 21 - 1982 (H) 0-1; 1928 (H) 1-1 and 1900 (A) 0-4.

The game will be Albion's 300th Premier League match (W72, D82, L145).

Albion have had 17 different goal scorers this season, which is the most in the league.

City are five goals short of their Premier League club record of 93 goals in a single season, set in 2011-12.

Albion's last six games: Tottenham Hotspur (H) 3-3; Norwich City (A) 1-0; Cardiff City (H) 3-3; Hull City (A) 0-2; Swansea City (A) 2-1; Manchester United (H) 0-3.

Manchester City's last six games: Sunderland (H) 2-2; Liverpool (A) 2-3; Southampton (H) 4-1; Arsenal (A) 1-1; Manchester United (A) 3-0; Fulham (H) 5-0.

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Jonas Olsson (achilles) and James Morrison (ankle) both face late fitness tests ahead of the trip to the Etihad Stadium.

Winger Scott Sinclair is unavailable due to the conditions of his loan deal with parent club City.

Squad from: Foster, Myhill, Reid, Ridgewell, McAuley, Dawson, Olsson, Morrison, Brunt, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Sessegnon, Anichebe, Vydra, Berahino, Bifouma, Amalfitano, Lugano, Jones, Yacob.

Manchester City

City's Spanish duo David Silva and Jesus Navas are both doubtful with ankle injuries whilst Yaya Toure will again be missing due to his groin problem. Matija Nastasic is also definitely out with a knee injury.

Squad from: Hart, Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Demichelis, Lescott, Boyata, Clichy, Kolarov, Milner, Nasri, Silva, Garcia, Fernandinho, Rodwell, Aguero, Negredo, Dzeko, Jovetic.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Pepe Mel:

“The Manchester City/Sunderland game is something we have to look at and is very positive for us. It shows it is possible to get points at Manchester City. If we want to get points at Manchester City what we need to do is score goals and in order to score goals we’ll need to make sure Man City are worried about defending.

“The only thing we’re talking about is winning. We really haven’t considered anything else. In football anyone can beat anyone else so we’re going there looking for the victory.

“Our feelings are very positive. We played against a good side in Tottenham and to score three goals against them is a real achievement - and we played well. We have to take the positives from that game. If the players go about things in the same vain then I’d be extremely proud of them.

“This week has been positive as a whole. The players have been on a hospital visit and on Thursday met with the disabled supporters. West Bromwich Albion is a family team with a big heart and this will surely bear fruit.”

www.wba.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 10/1, Manchester City Win: 2/9, Draw: 11/2.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Anichebe 14/1, Vydra 14/1, Sessegnon 20/1, Thievy 20/1, Berahino 20/1, Brunt 25/1, Dorrans 25/1, Morrison 25/1, Amalfitano 33/1, Dawson 33/1, McAuley 33/1, Mulumbu 33/1, Yacob 40/1, Lugano 40/1.

Manchester City: Aguero 2/1, Negredo 3/1, Dzeko 3/1, Jovetic 4/1, Silva 11/2, Nasri 11/2, Navas 7/1, Kolarov 9/1, Fernandinho 11/1, Milner 12/1, Rodwell 16/1, Garcia 16/1, Kompany 20/1, Lescott 25/1, Demichelis 25/1, Richards 25/1, Boyata 33/1, Nastasic 33/1, Zabaleta 33/1.

www.williamhill.com

REFEREE

Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Dowd has refereed three Albion games this season - the 2-0 FA Cup defeat at home to Crystal Palace in January, the 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United in November and the 3-0 win over Sunderland at The Hawthorns in September.

The Staffordshire official has taken charge of four City games during 2013/14 - the 2-0 home win over Chelsea in the FA Cup in February, the 3-2 win at Swansea City in January, the 7-0 win over Norwich City at the Etihad Stadium in November and the 2-0 win at home to Hull City in August.

Dowd has issued 139 yellow cards and four red cards in the 31 games he has officiated so far this season.

A full run-down of Dowd's history refereeing the Baggies can be found here

TICKET INFORMATION

The Baggies have sold just 300 out of their 1,700 allocation for the televised clash with many fans boycotting the game due to the exorbitant pricing of the tickets by City.

WEATHER FORECAST

Light cloud, 14°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

(Click on game to view)

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM

Manchester City 1-0 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Tuesday 7th May 2013, 7:45pm

Manchester City: Hart; Richards, K Toure, Lescott, Kolarov; Garcia, Rodwell (Maicon 76); Milner, Tevez (Razak 90+1), Nasri (Barry 83); Dzeko. Subs not used: Pantilimon (gk), Nastasic, Silva, Aguero.

Goalscorer: Dzeko 35

Booked: Kolarov 25 (foul), Nasri 65 (unsporting behaviour)

Albion: Myhill; Tamas (Long 81), Dawson, Olsson; Jones, Mulumbu, Morrison, Yacob (Dorrans 70), Ridgewell; Rosenberg (Odemwingie 76), Lukaku. Subs not used: Foster (gk), Popov, Reid, McAuley.

Booked: Yacob 65 (unsporting behaviour)

Attendance: 46,158

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Edin Dzeko struck against West Brom for the third time this season as FA Cup finalists Manchester City edged an open contest at the Etihad Stadium. The Bosnian, whose double at The Hawthorns in October included a last-gasp winner, guided home a volley after 35 minutes of a Barclays Premier League clash lacking in intensity but not incident. Both sides spurned numerous chances with City hitting the woodwork twice through Carlos Tevez and James Milner in the first half and Marcus Rosenborg doing likewise for West Brom after the break.

The build-up to the game had a distinct lack of edge to it with both teams making a number of changes and fans slow to make their way into the ground. City, although not mathematically certain of second place, made clear Saturday's date at Wembley was their priority as they fielded a team showing eight changes. Captain Vincent Kompany and influential players Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy were rested completely while Sergio Aguero and David Silva were among those on the bench. Joe Hart, Milner and Samir Nasri were the only three men to survive from the stalemate at Swansea, meaning a whole new back four. West Brom made four changes themselves, giving a chance to goalkeeper Boaz Myhill and also bringing in James Morrison, Craig Dawson and Gabriel Tamas.

But despite the visitors' lack of obvious incentive, coming into the game comfortable in eighth place, they started brightly. Romelu Lukaku had three good chances inside the opening six minutes but failed to trouble Hart, shooting and heading at the keeper and dragging another effort wide. Tevez had City's first attempt after linking well with Nasri and cutting inside but his shot was well off-target. Lukaku teed up Rosenborg at the other end but he too fired the wrong side of the post. City settled and Jack Rodwell had a chance after Myhill failed to deal with an Aleksandar Kolarov free-kick but shot over from close range. Kolarov was perhaps lucky to stay on the field after committing an offence of his own when he caught Tamas on the side of the head with a high boot. The Romanian left the field for treatment, later to return bandaged up, while Kolarov escaped with a yellow card from referee Phil Dowd. City then enjoyed a good spell as Tevez shot narrowly over from the edge of the box and Milner slammed a good chance from a dangerous Nasri cross. Rodwell was then inches away from turning a Kolarov corner towards goal and Tevez rattled the crossbar with a powerful drive from the edge of the box. The opening goal came moments later as Tevez broke away down the right and clipped back a delicate cross for Dzeko. The Bosnian, guilty of a glaring miss at Swansea, watched carefully and guided a well-weighted volley past Myhill. City maintained the momentum and Rodwell had a shot cleared off the line and another effort deflected wide before Milner drove against the foot of the post. Tevez played in Rodwell after another good break but again the otherwise impressive former Everton midfielder was out of luck and missed the target.

The break came at a good time for West Brom and they began the second period with renewed vigour. Rosenborg smashed a free-kick against the bar after being tripped by Javi Garcia on the edge of the area and Hart then saved well from Billy Jones' follow-up header. Hart was in action again soon after, tipping a low effort from Morrison wide of the post. West Brom applied pressure for a spell but were unable to break through and City came back at them. Nasri slipped past three defenders on a run into the box but Tevez could not connect with his cross and Rodwell's attempt was blocked. The ball came back to Rodwell but again he was denied as Myhill saved. Nasri won a free-kick which led to a little squabble with Claudio Yacob but Kolarov wasted the opportunity. Rosenborg connected with a volley from the edge of the area but Hart grasped the ball and Baggies manager Steve Clarke made the controversial decision to send on unpopular striker Peter Odemwingie. He was predictably greeted negatively by the visiting support but West Brom continued to press and Youssouf Mulumbu got behind the defence before Jones had a goalbound shot blocked. Another substitute, Shane Long, fired into the side-netting with his first touch. Maicon came off the City bench and blazed over, prompting a mass exodus as the game petered out in the closing minutes.

 Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Baggies' winger Scott Sinclair is currently on loan from City whom he joined from Swansea City in August 2012.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Nicolas Anelka, Peter Barnes, Paul Beesley, Tommy Broad, Gerry Creaney, David Cross, Andy Dibble, George Dorsett, Joe Dorsett, Frank Dyer, Tony Grant, Tony Grealish, Henry Hancock, Asa Hartford, Robert Hopkins, Derek Kevan, Steve MacKenzie, Ken McNaught, Ishmael Miller, Gary Owen, Bruce Rankin, Nicky Reid, Uwe Rosler, Barry Siddall, Jason van Blerk and Imre Varadi.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS MANCHESTER CITY