NEWCASTLE UNITED v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 30th November 2013, 5:30pm
St James' Park

MATCH NOTES

The game will be the 123rd meeting of the two clubs. Albion currently have a slight edge in terms of victories with 46 compared to United's 44.

Albion's last game on November 30 took place in 2005 when they lost 3-1 to Manchester United in the Carling Cup 4th round at Old Trafford. The Baggies' last win on this date came in 2002 when a Danny Dichio goal gave Gary Megson's men a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in a Premier League clash at The Hawthorns.

United's last game on this date came in 2006 when they played out a goalless draw at Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Cup.

The last 11 games between the two sides have seen 44 goals scored - an average of four per game.

Albion have kept just two clean sheets against United in the last 27 matches between the sides.

Albion's last six games: Aston Villa (H) 2-2; Chelsea (A) 2-2; Crystal Palace (H) 2-0; Liverpool (A) 1-4; Stoke City (A) 0-0; Arsenal (H) 1-1

Newcastle United's last six games: Norwich City (H) 2-1; Tottenham Hotspur (A) 1-0; Chelsea (H) 2-0; Manchester City (H, LC) 0-2; Sunderland (A) 1-2; Liverpool (H) 2-2

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Liam Ridgewell (calf) and Billy Jones (hamstring), face late fitness tests ahead of the trip to St James' Park.

Scott Sinclair and Zoltan Gera both lack match fitness but could be in contention for a place on the bench.

England goalkeeper Ben Foster remains out due to his foot injury.

Squad from: Myhill, Daniels, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Dawson, Jones, Lugano, Popov, Yacob, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Morrison, Brunt, Amalfitano, Sinclair, Sessegnon, Berahino, Anichebe, Long, Vydra, Anelka, Rosenberg.

Newcastle United

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew should be able to choose from an almost fully-fit squad with full-back Mathieu Debuchy returning from his one-match suspension and Steven Taylor fit again.

Squad from: Krul, Elliot, Coloccini, Williamson, Yanga-Mbiwa, Taylor, Santon, Dummett, Tiote, Anita, Cabaye, Marveaux, Sissoko, Ben Arfa, Sammy Ameobi, Bigirimana, Obertan, Cisse, Remy, Gouffran, Shola Ameobi.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

"Newcastle have done something that's really difficult to do in the Premier League which is win three games in a row. Any team that manages to do that means their situation, their feeling about themselves, their position in the league will change dramatically. It happened to us last year when we managed to string together four wins in a row which rocketed us up into the top four at one stage. So if you can put together a run like that then it's good for your confidence and good for your league position. Newcastle have done that with three really big results for them, so it's up to us to make sure it doesn't become four big ones.

"It's a great atmosphere up there. I was fortunate enough to spend two years at Newcastle, so I know what it is like. It's a city where the football club is the focus, and the focus is always on the game every weekend. There's a passionate atmosphere with a big crowd, a big stadium, but we don't go there with any fear, we don't worry about the atmosphere. We've been there before and handled it, winning there two years ago. Last year we went up there and played very well. We were really unlucky to come away with nothing. I was preparing my disappointed speech to talk about a draw, and I had to change it to talk a disappointed speech to talk about no points.

"We'll just look to build on what we have been doing recently, and turn draws into wins. I said before the game against Villa that after ten, 11, 12 games you start to level out where you are in the league. Newcastle have done the difficult part, which is putting together three wins, which is massive because it's taken them from a position near the bottom to a position near the top. So they deserve to be where they are, we deserve to be where we are, so our job at the weekend is to make sure we close the gap."

www.wba.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 3/1, Newcastle United Win: 21/20, Draw: 21/10.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Anelka 15/2, Anichebe 8/1, Long 8/1, Sessegnon 9/1, Berahino 11/1, Vydra 12/1, Rosenberg 12/1, Morrison 14/1, Brunt 16/1, Sinclair 16/1, Amalfitano 20/1, Gera 20/1, Mulumbu 25/1, Dawson 25/1, McAuley 25/1, Reid 33/1, Yacob 33/1, Jones 33/1.

United: Remy 9/2, Shola Ameobi 6/1, Cisse 13/1, Ben Arfa 8/1, Gouffran 8/1, Cabaye 8/1, Sissoko 12/1, Sammy Ameobi 12/1, Obertan 16/1, Tiote 25/1, Gutierrez 25/1, Anita 25/1, Debuchy 33/1, Santon 33/1.

www.williamhill.com

REFEREE

Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Dowd has officiated one Albion game so far this season - the 3-0 win over Sunderland at The Hawthorns in September.

He refereed three Albion games last season - The 3-0 win against Liverpool at The Hawthorns on the opening day of the campaign, the goalless draw at home to West Ham in December and the 1-0 defeat away at Manchester City in May.

The Staffordshire official has taken charge of two Newcastle games so far this season - the 0-0 draw at home to West Ham United in August and the 3-2 defeat at Everton in September.

Dowd has issued 49 yellow cards and one red in the twelve games he has officiated so far this season.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are no longer available to away supporters.

WEATHER FORECAST

Partly cloudy, 4°C

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT ST JAMES' PARK

Newcastle United 2-1 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Sunday 28th October 2012, 3:00pm

Newcastle United: Krul; Simpson (Cisse 61), Williamson, Coloccini, Santon; Ben Arfa, Perch, Cabaye, Gutierrez; Shola Ameobi (Obertan 61), Ba (Sammy Ameobi 73). Subs not used: Harper (gk), Ferguson, Taylor, Anita.

Goalscorers: Ba 35, Cisse 93

Booked: Perch 44 (foul), Cabaye 68 (foul), Gutierrez 77 (foul)

Albion: Foster; Tamas, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Mulumbu, Morrison; Odemwingie, Gera (Popov 88), Dorrans (Rosenberg 71); Lukaku (Long 65). Subs not used: L Daniels (gk); Fortune, El Ghanassy, Jara Reyes.

Goalscorer: Lukaku 55

Booked: Mulumbu 50 (foul), Ridgewell 52 (foul)

Attendance: 49,731 (1,400 Albion fans)

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)

Papiss Cisse deflected home a fortunate injury-time winner for Newcastle as Alan Pardew's men recovered from Romelu Lukaku's equaliser for West Brom to grab a 2-1 victory at St James' Park. Substitute Sammy Ameobi struck a left-foot shot from the edge of the box which took a heavy deflection off the back of Cisse and was cruelly diverted past Baggies keeper Ben Foster to seal the home side's win. Demba Ba had netted his seventh goal in nine starts to give the Magpies a 35th-minute lead, but the dangerous Lukaku looked to have snatched the visitors a point when he headed home a Zoltan Gera cross 10 minutes into the second half.

The Baggies, clearly not lacking confidence despite their defeat to Manchester City last weekend, had showed their attacking intentions from the start with Lukaku looking particularly lively down the left. But the home side had the first real chance in the 14th minute when Shola Amoebi - who had been preferred to Cisse in the starting line-up - dug out a deep cross from the right which found Ba unmarked to flash a close-range header inches wide. Ba had an ambitious penalty appeal turned down after tangling in the box with Albion captain Jonas Olsson two minutes later, and as the home side began to dominate possession Davide Santon brought a fine save out of Ben Foster with a long-range drive. But the visitors had a fantastic chance to go ahead in the 26th minute when Graham Dorrans charged over the halfway line on a swift counter-attack and fed Lukaku, who was clean through on goal but saw his left-foot shot flapped out for a corner by the advancing Tim Krul. Ameobi blazed a 32nd-minute chance into the upper tier before the hosts finally broke the deadlock three minutes later, Ameobi flicking a long Krul goal-kick into the box where Gareth McAuley made a mess of things and let Ba nip in to prod his seventh goal in nine starts past Foster. Lukaku had another superb chance five minutes before the break when he was put through by Youssouf Mulumbu, but once again could find no way past the impressive Krul.

After a slow start to the second half, Lukaku finally got the goal his performance deserved in the 55th minute when he squeezed in between Santon and Fabricio Coloccini to nod home a Zoltan Gera cross from close range. Magpies boss Alan Pardew responded by making a double substitution, bolstering his forward line with the introduction of Cisse for the tiring Ameobi, while Gabriel Obertan replaced Danny Simpson. Clarke, meanwhile, made a surprising change with the increasingly dangerous Lukaku hauled off and replaced by fellow striker Shane Long, which appeared to have the adverse effect of bringing an abrupt end to the visitors' best spell of the game. Ba hobbled off on 72 minutes to be replaced by Sammy Ameobi, and shortly afterwards Albion came close when Mulumbu shot down the left flank and set up a shooting chance for Markus Rosenborg, who hesitated for too long on the edge of the box. But the Baggies had regained their composure and began to put the hosts under real pressure, only Krul's alertness preventing the busy Rosenborg getting the vital touch on a deep cross by Long from the right flank. Rosenborg was again unfortunate not to reach a cross from the left by Gabriel Tamas while at the other end a cross by Gabriel Obertan was too strong for Cisse, who could get no direction on it in front of goal. But just when it looked like the Baggies had secured the point their performance deserved, Ameobi tried his luck from the edge of the box and Cisse diverted home the winner to keep Newcastle's fine home record on track.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

From 1998-99, Baggies boss' Steve Clarke was assistant manager at St James' Park during Ruud Gullit's short-lived reign at the club. Following the departure of Gullit, Clarke was named caretaker manager but took charge of just one game, a 5-1 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Stan Allan, John Anderson, Harry Brown, Franz Carr, Eddie Connelly, Wayne Fereday, Ruel Fox, Andy Hunt, Tom Hutchinson, Dennis Martin, Mick Martin, David Mills, Bob Pailor, George Reilly, Dick Roberts, Mark Robinson, Colin Suggett, John Trewick, Imre Varadi, Steve Watson and Kenny Wharton.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS NEWCASTLE UNITED