WEST BROMWICH ALBION v NORWICH CITY
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 7th December 2013, 3:00pm
The Hawthorns

MATCH NOTES

The game will be the 58th league and cup meeting between the two clubs. Albion currently lead the way in the victory stakes with 24 compared to the Canaries' 18.

The Baggies' last game on this date came in 2008 when they played out a 1-1 draw in a Premier League clash against Portsmouth at The Hawthorns. The club's last league win on December 7 came in 1974 when a Joe Mayo goal gave them a 1-0 win at Bolton Wanderers.

The Canaries' last game on December 7 also came in 2008 when they beat Ipswich Town 2-0 at Carrow Road.

Albion have won five of their last seven league games against Norwich.

Norwich have conceded the most Premier League away goals this season (21), whilst their 28 conceded overall is joint highest with Sunderland.

Albion's last six games: Manchester City (H) 2-3; Newcastle United (A) 1-2; Aston Villa (H) 2-2; Chelsea (A) 2-2; Crystal Palace (H) 2-0; Liverpool (A) 1-4

City's last six games: Liverpool (A) 1-5; Crystal Palace (H) 1-0; Newcastle United (A) 1-2; West Ham United (H) 3-1; Manchester City (A) 0-7; Manchester United (A, LC) 0-4

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Billy Jones and Scott Sinclair return to Steve Clarke’s squad after being declared fit following recent injuries. Youssouf Mulumbu also returns following his one match suspension but the game comes too soon for French striker Nicolas Anelka despite the player returning to training following a groin injury.

Jonas Olsson sits the game out due to suspension whilst Ben Foster is still missing due to his foot injury.

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

Norwich City

Big money signing Ricky van Wolfswinkel is back in training after a toe injury but City boss Chris Hughton is unlikely to risk the striker.

Robert Snodgrass and Elliott Bennett (both knee), Mark Bunn and Alexander Tettey (both ankle) and Anthony Pilkington (hamstring) are all missing for the Canaries.

Squad from: Ruddy, Martin, R Bennett, Bassong, Olsson, Howson, Fer, Redmond, Hoolahan, Hooper, Elmander, Becchio, Nash, Johnson, Whittaker, Josh Murphy, Turner, Garrido.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

“You don’t have much time between the two games. The day after is just recovery. Today is the second day of recovery because a lot of the boys are tired. We’ve had a look at one or two different options we can use - change of personnel, change of system. Overnight I’ll have a little sleep, a little think about it, and hopefully I’ll come up with the right solution. I’ll give the team out at the meeting tomorrow. Jonas is a character and has been a key player for the club over a number of years. But defenders get suspended and injured and you have to have a good squad to cope with that - and we think we have.

“Norwich are a good footballing team. They are always 100 per cent committed, always play for their manager. We expect a difficult game. We had a difficult home game against them last year when we managed to turn around a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory, which was good for us at the time. We went down there at the end of the season, when Norwich were still fighting for their Premier League life, and they turned us over 4-0, so that’s still fresh in the mind. Sometimes on the back of conceding a lot of goals teams tighten up a lot defensively so we have to be sure they won’t be thinking about conceding too many goals.

“We have to be creative and force the game. We’re the home team and the onus is on us to force the game a little bit and that’s what we have to do to create the chances to score the goals.”

www.wba.co.uk

City boss Chris Hughton:

“I think we’ve got to be pleased and grateful that this game has come around as quickly as it has. It gives us an opportunity to right some wrongs. We’re hurting from Wednesday night - I certainly want to see a reaction from the players and I want to see a performance that gives us a good chance of winning the game.

“The stats speak for themselves. We’re on the back of big defeats at Manchester City and Liverpool - we have to as a team defend better, and we have to eliminate the individual errors that are costing us. The only way we can do that is by working hard on the training pitch, being organised and making sure that we’re making it a lot tougher for opposition away from home.

“He’s done a very good job there. This is his second year in management and he’s doing very well, but he was a coach for a long while before that of course. West Brom are one point in front of us and have been spoken about in very good terms. It’s an opportunity for us now - we have to make sure we get that right reaction from the team. It’s a game that we must look forward to and we must do everything we can to win.”

www.canaries.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 5/6, Norwich City Win: 4/1, Draw: 11/5.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Long 9/2, Anelka 5/1, Sessegnon 6/1, Berahino 13/2, Anichebe 13/2, Vydra 7/1, Rosenberg 15/2, Morrison 11/1, Gera 11/1, Brunt 12/1, Sinclair 12/1, Amalfitano 16/1, Mulumbu 16/1, McAuley 20/1, Dawson 25/1, Yacob 25/1.

Norwich City: Hooper 15/2, Elmander 8/1, Becchio 10/1, Redmond 10/1, Fer 12/1, Murphy 14/1, Hoolahan 14/1, Howson 20/1, Whittaker 25/1, Johnson 25/1.

REFEREE

Mark Clattenburg (County Durham)

Clattenburg refereed three Albion games last season - the 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester City in October, the 1-1 draw in the FA Cup at Queens Park Rangers in January and the 1-0 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur in February.

The County Durham official also took charge of three City games last season - the 1-1 draw at home to QPR in August, the 1-1 draw away at Southampton in November and the 2-1 defeat against West Ham United at Upton Park in January.

Clattenburg has issued 42 yellow and no red cards in his 13 games so far this season.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for the game remain on general sale to Baggies' fans.

WEATHER FORECAST

Sunny spells, 7°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS

Albion 2-1 Norwich City
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 22nd December 2013, 3:00pm

Albion: Foster; Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Popov; Dorrans (Fortune HT), Brunt (c); Gera (Long 62), Morrison, Odemwingie; Lukaku (Tamas 84). Subs not used: Myhill (gk), Ridgewell, Rosenberg, Jara Reyes.

Goalscorers: Gera 43, Lukaku 82

Booked: Popov 90+5 (foul)

Norwich City: Bunn; Whittaker (R Martin 55), Bassong, Turner, Garrido; Tettey (Jackson 86), Johnson; Snodgrass, Hoolahan (c) (Howson 72), Pilkington; Morison. Subs not used: Steer (gk), E Bennett, Barnett, Kane.

Goalscorers: Snodgrass 23

Booked: Turner 57 (foul)

Attendance: 25,799

Referee: Martin Atkinson (South Yorkshire)

West Brom striker Romelu Lukaku smashed Norwich's 10-game unbeaten record in the Barclays Premier League with a late winner at The Hawthorns. Robert Snodgrass gave the Canaries an early lead after fit again Baggies keeper Ben Foster failed to keep out his dipping free-kick. But Zoltan Gera ended West Brom's near six hour goal drought just before the break and then on-loan Chelsea player Lukaku headed the winner with eight minutes remaining to leave Baggies boss Steve Clarke hoping the Blues do not decide to recall their player during the January transfer window.

Victory ended Albion's mini slump from which they had collected only two points from four games after climbing to third spot. They deserved their success after looking the more threatening during the second period. But Albion were also indebted to another rock solid display from central defender Gareth McAuley. The Canaries came close to a share of the spoils despite the absence of key striker Grant Holt with a hamstring injury. In addition to his goal, Snodgrass was always asking problems of the Albion defence

Lukaku came close to opening the scoring for the Baggies after three minutes. The striker made good contact on his glancing header from Goran Popov's deep cross but it flew just over the bar. Snodgrass connected with a volley from the edge of the Albion box but it was directed straight at Foster who returned after a seven game absence through injury. The first clearcut opening fell to Lukaku after 21 minutes when he took a pass from James Morrison in his stride. But Lukaku failed to make a clean contact on his cross shot and Mark Bunn saved with relative comfort. It proved a costly miss as Snodgrass put the Canaries ahead three minutes later after Peter Odemwingie brought down the midfielder. His curling free-kick contained plenty of power and, although Foster got a hand to the ball, he could only help it into the roof of the net. The shake of the head from the former England international conveyed the impression he should have done better. West Brom tried to retaliate and a goal-bound effort from McAuley was blocked by the body of Bunn following a Chris Brunt corner. But after 43 minutes Gera brought Albion back on level terms with his fourth goal of the campaign. Bunn parried Jonas Olsson's downward header from a Brunt corner onto the crossbar but Gera was on hand to volley home the rebound.

Clarke replaced Graham Dorrans with Marc-Antoine Fortune for the second period. McAuley rescued Albion with a superb tackle inside the box after Steve Morison took advantage of a mix-up at a short free-kick by the home side. Norwich centre-back Michael Turner headed wide from Snodgrass' centre before being booked for hauling down Odemwingie in full flight. Odemwingie had a low shot saved at the base of a post by Bunn but chances were now at a premium. Clarke brought on West Brom top scorer Shane Long - in place of Gera - in a bid to add more fire-power. Then with eight minutes left Lukaku showed his power and strength when climbing above Javier Garrido to head home Popov's deep cross. Popov was booked in injury time for a foul on Snodgrass but Albion held on to claim their seventh home win of the season.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

None

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Mark Barham, Leon Barnett, Geoff Barnsley, Trevor Benjamin, Ron Bradley, Paul Crichton, David Cross, Fernando Derveld, Robert Earnshaw, Jimmy Edwards, Ken Foggo, Ruel Fox, Asa Hartford, John Hartson, Gerry Howshall, Andy Johnson, Lee Marshall, Paul Peschisolido, Mike Phelan, Colin Suggett, Andy Townsend, Steve Walford and Brian Whitehouse.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS NORWICH CITY