SWANSEA CITY v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League Saturday 15th March 2014,
3:00pm Liberty Stadium
MATCH
NOTES
The Baggies' last game on March 15 came in 2008
when they suffered a 4-1 Championship defeat at home to Leicester City. Albion's last win on this date came
back in 1995 when they beat Wolves 2-0 at The Hawthorns in a League Division One
encounter.
City's last game on this date also came in 2008
when they lost 4-2 away at Northampton Town in League One.
Albion have won just one out of their last 19
league and cup games.
The Baggies
have kept five clean sheets this season - only
Cardiff with three have a worse
record.
Albion
have won none of their last 10 league away matches whilst Swansea have won just
four of their last 19 league home matches.
Albion's
last six games: Manchester United (H) 0-3;
Fulham (H) 1-1; Chelsea (H) 1-1; Crystal Palace (A) 1-3; Liverpool (H) 1-1;
Aston Villa (A) 3-4.
Swansea City's last six games: Crystal Palace (H)
1-1; Napoli (A, EL) 1-3; Liverpool (A) 3-4; Napoli (H, EL) 0-0; Everton (A, FAC)
1-3; Stoke City (A) 1-1.
TEAM
NEWS
Albion
Baggies' boss Pepe Mel must cope with a lengthening injury
list for the crunch clash in
South Wales. Captain Chris Brunt (knee), Steven Reid (knee), Claudio Yacob
(hamstring), Diego Lugano (knee) and Billy Jones (hamstring) are all missing for
the Baggies.
Meanwhile, striker Nicolas Anelka’s disastrous spell at the
club appears to be over with the Frenchman claiming he has ended his
Albion contract. Anelka would
have been suspended for the game anyway due to his controversial ‘quenelle’
celebration against West Ham in December.
Squad from:
Foster, Myhill, Popov, Olsson, Ridgewell, McAuley,
Dawson, Morrison, Sinclair,
Dorrans, Amalfitano, Mulumbu,
Gera, Sessegnon, Anichebe, Vydra, Berahino, Bifouma.
Swansea City
City's star striker Michu could return following a
three-month absence with an ankle injury whilst Michel Vorm could also return
having overcome illness. Pablo Hernandez faces a late test but should be fit
despite his recent hamstring problem.
Jonjo Shelvey and Kyle Bartley (both hamstring) are
definitely out whilst defender Chico Flores serves a one game suspension
following his sending off against Crystal Palace last week.
Squad from:
Vorm, Amat, Taylor, Flores, Williams, Britton, Bony,
Hernandez, Dyer, Cornell, Lamah, Routledge, Tiendalli, De Guzman, Canas, Rangel,
Pozuelo, Tremmel, Vazquez, Richards, Ngog, Emnes, Michu.
QUOTES
Baggies' boss Pepe Mel:
“What we really need to be now is pragmatic, regardless of
how we actually play, what we need to do now is win games. It’s important the
players are extremely comfortable in the way in which we play. What’s important
now is we need the points, it’s not so important the way we achieve this.
“The supporters really are the heart and soul of the club and
I can only thank them. Since I’ve come here to
West Brom they’ve been extremely
kind to me. I’m extremely indebted to the supporters of West Brom.
"But perhaps this isn’t the best game because
Swansea have eight Spanish
players! The fact that Swansea have players I know doesn’t matter. The most
important thing is that West Bromwich Albion do well. Indeed, Swansea have a lot
of Spanish players and I know them very well. Some of them are even friends. But
the most important thing is that West Bromwich Albion go on and win.”
www.wba.co.uk
Swansea interim manager Garry
Monk: “You get defining games throughout season, and this is
definitely one of them. We want the three points and so do
West Brom. It’s a good game, a
big game, but we’re in front of our home fans and it is important that we put on
a performance to get the win.
"They (West Brom) are under pressure and at the wrong end of the table, while
in recent years they have been at the other end. They have got a new manager and
I’ve looked at their recent games and we’ll tailor our good plan around that.
“Our performance levels have been fantastic recently. We had
seven games in 21 days so the break was a chance for the players to relax. We’ve
had a really good period, the boys have trained well and are up for the game on
Saturday. We had a few days off after the
Crystal Palace game then we
started to work very hard again and put in some more constructive training
sessions.”
www.swanseacity.net
MATCH
ODDS
Result
Albion Win: 3/1, Swansea City Win: 10/11, Draw:
5/2.
First Goalscorer Albion:
Anichebe 15/2, Vydra 8/1, Thievy 8/1, Berahino 9/1, Sessegnon 9/1, Gera 12/1,
Sinclair 14/1, Morrison 16/1, Dorrans 16/1, Amalfitano 20/1, McAuley 25/1,
Mulumbu 25/1, Dawson 25/1, Olsson 40/1.
Swansea City: Bony 9/2, Michu 5/1, Lita 6/1, Ngog
13/2, Emnes 13/2, Vazquez 7/1, Dyer 9/1, Hernandez 9/1, de Guzman
11/1, Lamah 12/1, Routledge 12/1, Pozuelo 14/1, Rangel 25/1, Canas 33/1, Amat
33/1, Davies 33/1, Williams 33/1, Britton 33/1, Tiendalli 40/1.
www.williamhill.com
REFEREE
Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)
The game will see Atkinson referee Albion for the
first time this season. His last game in charge of a Baggies' match came at The
Hawthorns in January 2013 when Steve Clarke's men suffered a 1-0 defeat against
Queens Park Rangers in a FA Cup 3rd round replay.
The Yorkshire official has refereed one Swansea
game so far during 2013/14 - the 3-1 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in
January.
Atkinson has handed out 84 yellow and 3 red cards
in the 29 games he has taken charge of this season.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the game are now sold out.
WEATHER FORECAST
Sunny, 12°C
FIXTURE HISTORY
The first competitive meeting of the two sides came in
October 1927 at The Hawthorns. Two goals from Joe Carter, along with efforts
from Arthur Fitton, Jimmy Cookson and Charlie Wilson helped the Baggies to a 5-2
victory. The return game at Vetch Field in March saw the Swans gain revenge with
a 3-2 victory, two goals from Cookson in vain.
The first five meetings between Albion and Swansea saw 33 goals scored,
the Baggies scoring 19 of those.
Albion's
best league victory over the Swans is a 6-2 win at The Hawthorns in
October 1929, Tommy Glidden scoring four of the goals. The Baggies also strolled
to an 8-0 win during October 1941 in a Football League South wartime game at The
Hawthorns, William 'G' Richardson hitting five of the Albion goals.
Other big wins for Albion
include a 5-1 victory at The Hawthorns in September 1928 and the aforementioned
5-2 victory in the first meeting of the sides in October 1927.
Swansea's best victory over
Albion came at the Vetch in February 1929 when goals from Gunn (2), Cheetham,
Ranson, Hole and McPherson saw the hosts hand out a 6-1 thrashing of the
Baggies.
Probably the most important
games between the two clubs came during the 1992/93 season when they met in the
League Division Two play-off semi-finals. In the first leg at Vetch Field Albion
trailed 2-0 and looked to be heading out of the tie until a late Andy McFarlane
own goal gave Ossie Ardiles' men a vital lifeline. The return game at The
Hawthorns saw the Baggies clinch a place at Wembley with a 2-0 victory thanks to
goals from Andy Hunt and Ian Hamilton in front of a crowd of just over 26,000 who produced
one of the best ever atmospheres the old ground has ever seen.
Swansea have had the upper hand
in the five Premier League meetings so far between the clubs, winning four of them.
MATCH
HIGHLIGHTS
(Click on game to view)
Wednesday 19 May 1993 - Albion 2-0 Swansea City - League Division Two play-off
semi final 2nd leg - The Hawthorns
Saturday 25 January 1992 - Albion 2-3 Swansea City - Third Division - The Hawthorns
Saturday 5 September 1981 - Albion 4-1 Swansea City - First Division - The Hawthorns
LAST MEETING AT THE LIBERTY STADIUM
Swansea
City 3-1 Albion Barclays Premier League Wednesday 28 November 2013,
7:45pm
Swansea City:
Tremmel; Rangel, Chico,
Williams (c), Davies; Britton, Ki, Dyer (Moore 64), Hernandez (de Guzman 74),
Routledge; Michu (Agustien 86). Subs not used: Cornell (gk), Monk,
Tiendalli, Shechter.
Goalscorers:
Michu 9, Routledge 11, 39
Albion: Myhill;
Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Yacob, Mulumbu; Odemwingie, Morrison, Brunt;
Lukaku. Subs not used: L Daniels (gk); Popov, Rosenberg, Long, Fortune,
Tamas, Dorrans.
Goalscorer:
Lukaku 45+2
Booked:
McAuley 13 (foul), Brunt 45
(foul), Olsson 52 (dissent), Jones 90+3 (foul)
Attendance: 20,377
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
A stunning first-half performance saw
Swansea bring high-flying West
Brom's excellent run to a crashing halt at the Liberty Stadium. The Baggies were
simply overrun in the opening 45 minutes, a ninth goal of the season for Michu
and a Wayne Routledge double giving their hosts a 3-0 lead. Romelu Lukaku pulled
one back for the Baggies just before half-time but, despite an improved
second-half display, that was as good as it got for Steve Clarke' side. Swansea
are on a run of just one defeat in their last nine games and manager Michael
Laudrup will have been delighted as his side produced their best display of his
reign, with the interchangeable trio of Routledge, Nathan Dyer and Pablo
Hernandez ripping the visitors apart.
Albion were looking to record a fifth straight win in the top
flight for the first time in 34 years, but their hopes of doing so were
effectively over when they trailed 2-0 inside 11 minutes. They had a warning
when Swansea struck the
woodwork inside 90 seconds. Hernandez's exquisite pass played in Michu, but the
forward's low shot struck the outside of the near post with Boaz Myhill beaten.
Swansea's crisp, incisive passing was causing the Baggies all sorts of problems,
and it came as no surprise when they fell behind in the ninth minute. Dyer found
space down the right and Hernandez steered his deep cross back across goal for
Michu to finish from close range. The lead doubled less than three minutes later
with Hernandez again the provider. The club-record signing set up Routledge who,
after a poor first touch, found the net as Jonas Olsson's attempted challenge
saw the ball ricochet in off his shin.
Swansea's dominance was such that goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel was
merely a spectator for much of the opening half, and
West Brom's malaise was
exemplified when Peter Odemwingie managed to miscue a simple five-yard pass to
Youssouf Mulumbu and send the ball into touch. Gareth McAuley blocked sharply
from Hernandez after another wonderful flowing
Swansea
move, and Dyer had a penalty appeal waved away by referee Lee Mason as he went
down under pressure from Chris Brunt. But the hosts did not have to wait too
long for their third goal. Dyer, Hernandez and Ben Davies worked some space down
the Swansea left and the full-back's ball across the box came to Routledge, who
smashed home. It could have been even worse for the visitors as Routledge and
Hernandez again left the Baggies defence dazzled, but Michu could not reach the
latter's far-post cross. Lukaku did at least give the Baggies a glimmer of hope
as he fired home with the last action of the first half when
Swansea
failed to clear a Brunt corner.
The powerful Belgian could have struck again moments into the
second half, but volleyed high over the bar from McAuley's pass.
Albion were finally showing
glimmers of the form that had propelled them to third in the table with Claudio
Yacob and James Morrison becoming increasingly prominent. But for all their
endeavour it was the hosts who looked more likely to add to their tally. Michu
made the puzzling decision to lay the ball off to Dyer after Angel Rangel's
pull-back found him unmarked in the box before the forward headed narrowly wide
from Hernandez's clipped centre. Myhill got down low to save another Michu
effort, before Ki Sung-yeung's curling free-kick flew narrowly wide as the Swans
claimed a comfortable victory.
Sporting Life
CURRENT CONNECTIONS
Baggies' on-loan winger Scott Sinclair
joined Swansea from Chelsea in August 2010 and spent two successful seasons at
the Liberty Stadium before leaving to join Manchester City in in a £6million
deal.
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, Luke Moore, Tony Millington, Stewart Phillips,
Ronnie Rees,
David Stewart, James Thomas, Kim Wassell and
Colin West.
Former Swans' boss Colin Addison had two spells as Albion's
assistant manager under Ron Atkinson; Frank Burrows, another former
City manager, was assistant manager during Gary Megson's time at The
Hawthorns; Walter Robbins, an Albion forward during the 1930s, was
later part of Swansea's coaching staff.
ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS SWANSEA CITY
VENUE |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Home |
16 |
9 |
3 |
4 |
37 |
20 |
Away |
16 |
2 |
4 |
10 |
17 |
32 |
Total |
32 |
11 |
7 |
14 |
54 |
52 |
LAST
TEN MATCHES AGAINST SWANSEA CITY
DATE |
COMPETITION |
H/A |
F-A |
SCORERS |
GATE |
Sun
01 Sep 2013 |
Premier
League |
H |
0-2 |
Davies, Hernandez |
23,395 |
Sat
09 Mar 2013 |
Premier
League |
H |
2-1 |
Lukaku,
de Guzman - Moore |
24,832 |
Wed 28 Nov 2012 |
Premier League |
A |
1-3 |
Lukaku - Michu, Routledge 2 |
20,377 |
Sat 04 Feb 2012 |
Premier League |
H |
1-2 |
Fortuné - Sigurdsson, Graham |
24,274 |
Sat 17 Sep 2011 |
Premier League |
A |
0-3 |
Sinclair (pen), Lita, Dyer |
20,341 |
Tue 16 Mar 2010 |
Championship |
A |
2-0 |
Dorrans
(pen), Miller |
17,774 |
Tue 20 Oct 2009 |
Championship |
H |
0-1 |
Beattie |
21,022 |
Sat 02 Aug 2008 |
O'Leary Testimonial |
A |
0-0 |
|
5,996 |
Wed 06 Sep 2000 |
League Cup |
H |
2-1 |
Roberts 2 - Bound (pen) |
11,328 |
Tue 22 Aug 2000 |
League Cup |
A |
0-0 |
|
4,758 |
|