WEST BROMWICH ALBION v SWANSEA CITY
Barclays Premier League
Sunday 1st September 2013, 1:30pm
The Hawthorns

MATCH NOTES

Albion have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League games.

The Baggies' last Premier League win at The Hawthorns came almost six months ago - against Swansea City.

Swansea have lost their last four Premier League fixtures. The Swans have never lost five in a row.

Albion's last game on this date came last year when they defeated Everton 2-0 at The Hawthorns. The Swans' also played on this date last year, drawing 2-2 at home to Sunderland.

Albion's last six games: Newport County (H, LC) 3-0; Everton (A) 0-0; Southampton (H) 0-1; Bologna (H, Fr) 2-0; Cork City (A, Fr) 6-0; Genoa (N, Fr) 0-1.

Swansea City's last six games: Petrolul Ploiesti (A, ELQ) 1-2; Tottenham Hotspur (A) 0-1; Petrolul Ploiesti (H, ELQ) 5-1; Manchester United (H) 1-4; Malmo (A, ELQ) 0-0; Malmo (H ELQ) 4-0.

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Albion boss Steve Clarke is without on-loan striker Matej Vydra, who sustained a hamstring injury in the Capital One Cup win over Newport on Tuesday but Nicolas Anelka returns after missing the last two games due to compassionate leave.

With Ben Foster out with a stress fracture of a bone in his right foot, Boaz Myhill looks likely to start in goal as opposed to Luke Daniels who played against Newport.

Midfielders Zoltan Gera, George Thorne (both knee) and Steven Reid (knock) remain sidelined.

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

Swansea City

Swans' trio Ashley Williams, Wilfried Bony and Jonjo Shelvey are expected to play despite missing the midweek trip to Romania with minor knocks but Nathan Dyer (hamstring) and Neil Taylor (thigh) are sidelined.

Squad from: Vorm, Amat, Flores, Williams, Britton, Shelvey, Michu, Bony, Hernandez, Lamah, Routledge, Monk, Ki, De Guzman, Canas, Rangel, Pozuelo, Tremmel, Richards, Davies, Donnelly, Tiendalli.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

“We need to improve because we’re playing against a very good side in Swansea, who have again invested a lot of money in their squad. The players are desperate because we know we didn’t give the supporters enough in the first game and we want to make sure the supporters have something to shout about this weekend.

“We know how Swansea play. We went down there last season on a run of four wins, got caught a little bit short, and they beat us comfortably. We had a good, competitive game against them at The Hawthorns and we managed to shade it 2-1. I think over the course of the season between ourselves and Swansea it was pretty much honours even, even down to the final league positions when we shaded it by one place.

“Swansea are a very good team. They obviously need a bigger squad this year because they were good enough to win the Capital One Cup, which was great for them. Now they have the bonus of being involved in the Europa League, which is great for any club - I don’t care what anybody says - it’s a great competition and I’d like to be involved in it myself one day. They’ve built the squad a little bit more, have a certain way of playing, play good football, they’re attractive and are difficult to play against. They’ve had a tough start against two difficult teams to play against - and hopefully on Sunday we can make that three.

“I went down to White Hart Lane last week to watch them play Tottenham and I thought they were good. They were a little bit unfortunate not to get anything from that game. So we know we need to be at our best on Sunday - and hopefully we will be.”

www.wba.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 6/4, Swansea City Win: 7/4, Draw: 12/5.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Anelka 5/1, Long 6/1, Rosenberg 13/2, Berahino 7/1, Sinclair 8/1, Morrison 10/1, Dorrans 11/1, Brunt 14/1, Mulumbu 14/1, Dawson 20/1, McAuley 25/1.

Swansea City: Bony 7/1, Michu 7/1, Pozuelo 10/1, Shelvey 10/1, Hernandez 11/1, Dyer 12/1, Routledge 12/1, de Guzman 14/1, Sung-Yueng 16/1, Lamah 16/1, Rangel 25/1.

www.williamhill.com

REFEREE

Mike Dean (Wirral)

Dean took charge of four Albion games last season - the 1-1 draw at Tottenham in August, the 4-2 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in November, the 2-1 New Year's Day defeat at home to Fulham and the 0-0 draw at Stoke in March.

The Wirral official refereed three Swansea games last season - the 2-2 draw at home to Reading in October, the 1-0 defeat at Spurs in December and the 3-1 win at the Liberty Stadium against Stoke in January.

He handed out 145 yellow cards and five red cards in the 41 games he officiated last season.

TICKET INFORMATION

Seats for this category B game remain on general sale priced at £25 adults, £20 seniors, £15 under-21s/students and £10 under-17s.

WEATHER FORECAST

Partly cloudy but dry, 17°C

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS

Albion 2-1 Swansea City
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 9 March 2013, 3:00pm

Albion: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Yacob, Mulumbu, Dorrans (Fortuné 87), Morrison (Thomas 87), Brunt, Lukaku (Odemwingie 80). Subs not used: Myhill, Tamas, Popov, Rosenberg.

Goalscorers: Lukaku (40), de Guzman (og 61).

Booked: Jones (foul 41).

Swansea City: Vorm, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Davies, Sung-Yueng, de Guzman, Hernandez (Lamah 68), Michu, Routledge (Shechter 76), Moore (Dyer 60). Subs not used: Tremmel, Gower, Tiendalli, Bartley.

Goalscorer: Moore (33).

Booked: Dyer (foul 88).

Attendance: 24,832.

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire).

West Brom maintained their push for a European spot but needed an own goal from Swansea midfielder Jonathan de Guzman to seal victory in the Barclays Premier League clash at the Hawthorns.

Capital One Cup winners Swansea started in impressive style and deserved to go ahead through former West Brom striker Luke Moore's header. Lukaku equalised with his 13th goal of the campaign before the decider from De Guzman but the visitors had a late effort from substitute Roland Lamah harshly ruled out for offside. Lukaku could afford the luxury of having a penalty saved by Swans keeper Michel Vorm when the score was 1-1 as Albion secured their third win in the last four games. The on-loan Chelsea player again impressed with his pace and power in the lone striker role. His performances must surely be giving his parent club food for thought in deciding whether to recall him for next season or allow him to go back out on loan. But even he was eclipsed by another excellent performance in the centre of the park by James Morrison, who pulled the strings to telling effect.

Swansea started in confident fashion and Michu missed an early opportunity to break the deadlock. Pablo Hernandez's right-wing cross dropped invitingly for Swansea's 19-goal leading scorer inside the danger area but he sent his shot over the bar. Albion right-back Billy Jones brought down Wayne Routledge 20 yards out but Jonathan de Guzman curled his free-kick past the post. Michu squandered another golden opportunity after 19 minutes after a typical free-flowing move. Good link-up play by Hernandez and Luke Moore carved the opening for Michu but he stabbed his shot wide with only Ben Foster to beat. It came as no surprise when Moore celebrated his first start since Boxing Day by opening the scoring against his former club. Moore got in front of his marker to glance his header from De Guzman's corner past Foster into the far corner of the net. But Albion hit back and Lukaku levelled after 40 minutes with his 13th goal of the campaign. Dorrans threaded a low ball towards the near post and Lukaku was first to react in steering the ball past Michel Vorm. Jones was booked for bringing down Michu although Albion fans booed the Swansea player after believing he had dived. Albion ended the first half on top and Vorm parried a fierce volley from Morrison.

Lukaku was prominent at the start of the second period and he shot wide after a mistake by Monk had allowed him a free run at goal. The Belgium international then teed up a chance for Brunt, whose shot was saved by Vorm. But he blotted his copybook after Albion were awarded a 56th-minute penalty for a challenge on Morrison by Routledge just inside the box. Up stepped Lukaku to take the spot-kick but Vorm was equal to his low drive away to his right and was able to save. The Baggies were not to be denied and an own goal from De Guzman put them ahead four minutes later. Gareth McAuley's header from a Brunt corner was cleared off the line by Angel Rangel but rebounded back off De Guzman into the net. Dorrans had a fierce drive deflected wide as Albion looked to extend their advantage. Then Lukaku was just off target after creating space inside the Swansea box before being substituted to a standing ovation with nine minutes left. Swansea substitute Roland Lamah had the ball in the net in the 87th minute. But it was ruled out for offside although the ball appeared to hit home defender Gareth McAuley before rebounding into his path.

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.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS SWANSEA CITY