SUNDERLAND v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Wednesday 7th May 2014, 7:45pm
Stadium of Light

MATCH NOTES

The game will be the 150th competitive meeting between Albion and Sunderland. The Black Cats currently have 56 wins to their name compared to the Baggies' 53.

Albion have won more points (27), and won more games (8), against Sunderland than any other club in Premier League competition.

Albion and Sunderland have met once before on May 7, on the last day of the 1994/95 season, when goals from Andy Hunt and Paul Agnew earned the Baggies a 2-2 draw at Roker Park.

The last time Albion played a game on this date came last year when they suffered a 1-0 Premier League defeat away at Manchester City. The last Baggies' victory on May 7 came in 2000 when they beat Charlton Athletic 2-0 at The Hawthorns to secure League Division One safety.

The Black Cats' last game on this date came in 2011 when they beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at the Reebok Stadium in a Premier League fixture.

Albion have won seven out of the last eight meetings between the clubs.

Stéphane Sessègnon has scored in the last three meetings between the sides - twice for Sunderland and once for Albion.

Nine of the last ten meetings between Albion and Sunderland have produced a minimum of three goals.

Sunderland have not won four games in a row in the Premier League for 14 years.

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

Sunderland's last six games: Manchester United (A) 1-0; Cardiff City (H) 4-0; Chelsea (A) 2-1; Manchester City (A) 2-2; Everton (H) 0-1; Tottenham Hotspur (A) 1-5.

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Pepe Mel is hopeful experienced right-back Steven Reid will be fit after he missed Sunday's game against Arsenal with a groin injury. Fellow right-back Billy Jones is in the squad but may not be risked following his recent hamstring injury.

Thievy Bifouma (groin), Zoltan Gera (hamstring) and Liam Ridgewell (knee) are all out.

Squad from: Foster, Myhill, Reid, McAuley, Dawson, Olsson, Morrison, Brunt, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Sessegnon, Anichebe, Vydra, Berahino, Amalfitano, Lugano, Yacob, Sinclair, O'Neil.

Sunderland

Black Cats' boss Gus Poyet looks likely to once more name an unchanged team.

Defender Carlos Cuellar (hamstring), striker Steven Fletcher (ankle) and midfielder Ki Sung-yueng (knee) remain sidelined along with long-term absentee, goalkeeper Keiren Westwood (shoulder).

Squad from: Mannone, Ustari, Bardsley, Celustka, Brown, O'Shea, Vergini, Roberge, Cattermole, Bridcutt, Gardner, Giaccherini, Johnson, Colback, Larsson, Ba, Mavrias, Borini, Altidore, Scocco, Wickham.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Pepe Mel:

“We’ve had a lot of hard work through the entire season. We’ve had many problems and obstacles to overcome. Having two games in hand, having certified our safety, I think means we have done very well. I think we’ve had a long way to come and we’ve actually come all that way. We’ve drawn against Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool; we’ve won against West Ham, Norwich and Swansea. Those victories show we’ve come a long way. We’ve had a lot of difficult situations we’ve had to resolve and in spite of that we’ve still had a very good month of April.

I’m very proud of my entire team but especially of certain players like Dorrans, Berahino and Dawson because they’ve been outstanding. The story has ended well and now the club needs to start looking to the future and planning for the future.

“I think tonight is going to be a massively important game because, most of all, we want to show our respect towards this competition, towards this league, towards ourselves as a football club, towards Sunderland and also to Norwich. Our only focus is to win this game. Sunderland’s recent form was completely unexpected. No-one thought that Sunderland would be able to do what they are doing. But they have shown they have great mental strength. I think they fully deserve to stop up - but we’re going to go out to win.”

www.wba.co.uk

Black Cats' manager Gus Poyet:

“We will be playing to win. As we always say, the result is a consequence of the performance. The idea is not to play or start the game with a draw in our heads - not at all. We will go for the win first.

“It’s going to be a game where maybe West Brom are relaxed for the first time a while, but you never know if that’s a good or bad thing. Sometimes when teams relax they play better, or the opposite.

“We need to maintain the intensity, concentration and fighting spirit because we need points. We’re looking forward to the game; we’re ready, nothing has changed. We’re much better [off] than Friday and two weeks ago, so the idea is to continue with that.

“We’ve done something extraordinary; now we need to make sure we finish it.”

www.safc.com

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 11/4, Sunderland Win: 23/20, Draw: 2/1.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Anichebe 15/2, Berahino 15/2, Sessegnon 8/1, Vydra 8/1, Morrison 14/1, Brunt 14/1, Sinclair 16/1, Dorrans 16/1, Amalfitano 20/1, Mulumbu 20/1, McAuley 25/1, Dawson 25/1, Jones 33/1, Yacob 33/1, Lugano 33/1.

Sunderland: Wickham 9/2, Borini 6/1, Altidore 13/2, Johnson 7/1, Scocco 7/1, Giaccherini 8/1, Gardner 12/1, Larsson 16/1, Alonso 20/1, Ba 20/1, Colback 20/1, Bardsley 25/1, Cattermole 33/1, O'Shea 33/1, Bridcutt 33/1, Vergini 33/1, Brown 33/1.

www.williamhill.com

REFEREE

Lee Mason (Lancashire)

Mason has officiated two Albion games this season - the 1-0 win at home to Newcastle United on New Year's Day and the 1-1 draw with Arsenal at The Hawthorns in October.

The Lancashire official has taken charge of five Sunderland games during 2013/14 - the 5-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last month, the 2-1 loss to Manchester United in the Capital One Cup in January, the 2-1 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur in December, the 2-1 win at home to Southampton in the Capital One Cup in November and the 1-1 draw away at Southampton in August.

Mason has issued 109 yellow cards and five red in the 33 games he has officiated this season.

TICKET INFORMATION

Seats will remain on general sale from The Hawthorns’ ticket office until noon on the day of the game. Albion fans can also pay at the Stadium of Light via the away fans’ cash-only turnstiles.

Tickets are priced £29 adults, £19 over 65s and £10 under 16s .

WEATHER FORECAST

Light cloud, 12°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST MEETING AT THE STADIUM OF LIGHT

Sunderland 2-4 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 24 November 2012, 12:45pm

Sunderland: Mignolet; Bardsley, Cuellar, O’Shea (McClean HT), Rose; Larsson, Cattermole (c) (Gardner 34), Colback (Saha 71), Johnson; Sessegnon; Fletcher. Subs not used: Westwood (gk); Campbell, Kilgallon, Vaughan, Westwood.

Goalscorers: Gardner 73, Sessegnon 87

Booked: O’Shea (foul 8), Gardner (foul 52)

Albion: Myhill; Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Yacob, Morrison (Tamas 90+1); Odemwingie (Fortune 68), Gera, Brunt; Long (Lukaku 68). Subs not used: L Daniels (gk); Dorrans, Rosenberg, Popov.

Goalscorers: Gera 30, Long 44, Lukaku 81 (pen), Fortune 90+5

Booked: Long (simulation 19), Morrison (foul 38), Ridgewell (foul 89)

Attendance: 36,390 (685 Albion fans)

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

Simon Mignolet's howler helped West Brom climb into third place in the Barclays Premier League table as Sunderland's hopes of back-to-back victories were torn apart. The Black Cats keeper gifted Shane Long the simplest of opportunities to fire into an empty net two minutes before the break when he allowed Chris Brunt's pass to squirm from his grasp. Steve Clarke's men were already leading through Zoltan Gera's superb strike on the half-hour, and although the home side launched a fightback when Craig Gardner's 73rd-minute free-kick was deflected home, substitute Romelu Lukaku's late penalty looked to have sealed a fourth successive win for the first time in the Premier League. Stephane Sessegnon reduced the deficit from close range with three minutes remaining, but after Lukaku had hit the post deep into injury time, fellow substitute Marc-Antoine Fortune made sure at the death.

The Baggies arrived on Wearside brimming with confidence to meet a team which, having secured just its second Premier League win in 19 attempts, ran out determined to start climbing the table amid a run of what they considered to be winnable fixtures. They did so knowing, however, that they would have to reach the heights they did in the second half of last weekend's 3-1 win at Fulham if they were to emerge with a positive result, and the early signs were positive. Striker Steven Fletcher glanced a header wide from Phil Bardsley's right-wing cross and Sessegnon, who appeared to have rediscovered his form of last season, forced a less than convincing save from Myhill with a dipping volley after running on to Adam Johnson's flick. However, high-flying West Brom were making a game of it and midfielder Claudio Yacob had earlier passed up an opportunity to head home Chris Brunt's right-wing corner at the far post, although in his defence, he may not have seen the ball until late after Gareth McAuley had launched himself at it in front of him. Sessegnon called upon Myhill once again with 25 minutes gone when, despite his lack of inches, he met Sebastian Larsson's free-kick with a downward header. But any momentum Sunderland had established dissipated on the half-hour when the visitors took the lead in spectacular style. Johnson could only take the pace off McAuley's long ball out of defence and Gera took it in his stride, turned neatly and blasted a left-foot shot past Mignolet and inside the post. The Black Cats might have been level within two minutes when the ball fell to John O'Shea inside the penalty area and he curled a right-foot effort just high and wide of the top corner. Martin O'Neill's men were battling hard for a way back into the game and they went close again two minutes before half-time when Sessegnon's enterprising run ended with a deflected shot which Myhill fielded with little difficulty. However, their hopes were dealt a major blow within seconds when Simon Mignolet, whose form this season has been a source of comfort for his manager, suffered a calamitous meltdown. The Belgium international went down to collect Brunt's harmless through-ball as Shane Long close him down, but inexplicably fumbled it into the path of the astonished striker, who was left to tap into an empty net. O'Shea, who had been booked for an early foul on Long and then held his breath as the striker went down a second time, only to be booked for diving, failed to re-appear after the break as winger James McClean got the nod.

However, the game might have been effectively over within four minutes of the restart when Long ran in on goal, only for Mignolet to partially redeem himself with a vital block. There was an uncomfortable moment for opposite number Myhill three minutes later when he managed to beat Johnson's long-range effort away after it reared up at him. But for all Sunderland pressed, the Baggies' organisation and work-rate proved equal to the task, and their ability to counter at pace proved a potent weapon. They might have extended their lead with 61 minutes gone when Brunt was allowed time and space to drill the ball across the face of goal, where the sliding Long only just failed to make contact. Peter Odemwingie blasted inches wide after cutting inside from the right with 21 minutes remaining, and that proved to be his final contribution as he and Long made way for Fortune and Romelu Lukaku seconds later. The Black Cats gave themselves hope when Gardner's 73rd-minute free-kick clipped Fortune in the defensive wall and flew past the helpless Myhill, but Johnson's trip on Liam Ridgewell handed Lukaku an 81st-minute chance from the penalty spot and he took it with aplomb. Sessegnon pulled a second goal back from close range after Myhill had parried Fletcher's 87th-minute header, but after Lukaku had hit the post, Fortune ended their hopes with a neat finish in the fifth minute of injury time.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Stéphane Sessègnon became Albion's record signing when he moved to The Hawthorns in September 2013. He joined from Sunderland where he had spent two and a half years.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Sam Allardyce, Mark Angel, Brett Angell, Peter Barnes, Jack Boyd, Darren Carter, Frank Cresswell, Shaun Cunnington, Danny Dichio, Andy Dibble, Tony Ford, Carsten Fredgaard, Marton Fulop, Sid Glidden, Don Goodman, Bernt Haas, Danny Hegan, Jim Holton, Kevin Kilbane, Archie McKenzie, Sandy McNab, Paul McShane, Andy Marriott, Jimmy Millar, Joe Murphy, John Nevin, Jimmy Nicholl, Kevin Phillips, Kieran Richardson, Barry Siddall, Colin Suggett, Stanislav Varga, Ike Webb and Colin West.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS SUNDERLAND