WEST BROMWICH ALBION v TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 31st January 2015, 3:00pm
The Hawthorns

MATCH NOTES

The game will be the 140th league and cup meeting between Albion and Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs have a very slight edge in terms of victories with 54 compared to the Baggies' 53.

Albion's last game on this date came in 2009 when goals from Jay Simpson and Chris Brunt earned the Baggies a point from a 2-2 Premier League draw at Hull City. The club's last win on this date came in 2007 when a Diomansy Kamara double gave Tony Mowbray's men a 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle at The Hawthorns in a League Championship fixture.

Spurs' last game on January 31 came in 2012 when goals from Bale (2) and Modric gave them a 3-1 Premier League win over Wigan Athletic at White Hart Lane.

Albion will be attempting to complete a league double over Spurs for the first time since the 1981/82 season.

Albion's last six games: Birmingham City (A, FAC) 2-1; Everton (A) 0-0; Hull City (H) 1-0; Gateshead (H, FAC) 7-0; West Ham United (A) 1-1; Stoke City (A) 0-2.

Spurs' last six games: Sheffield United (A, LC) 2-2; Leicester City (H, FAC) 1-2; Sheffield United (H, LC) 1-0; Sunderland (H) 2-1; Burnley (H, FAC) 4-2; Crystal Palace (A) 1-2.

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Baggies' boss Tony Pulis should have an almost fully fit squad to choose from with the exception of Boaz Myhill (hand) and Jonas Olsson. The Swedish defender has returned to training following his Achilles injury but is not yet fit enough to be considered for selection.

Pulis remains without Youssouf Mulumbu and Jason Davidson who are away with their respective countries.

New signing Callum McManaman looks likely to make his debut after signing from Wigan Athletic.

Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs are again without Nabil Bentaleb who is on international duty with Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations but otherwise there are no selection worries for boss Mauricio Pochettino.

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 19/10, Tottenham Win: 29/20, Draw: 9/4.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Berahino 11/2, Anichebe 13/2, Ideye 7/1, McManaman 9/1, Sessegnon 9/1, Gardner 11/1, Brunt 12/1, Dorrans 12/1, Morrison 14/1, Dawson 25/1, McAuley 25/1, Lescott 25/1, Baird 33/1, Yacob 33/1.

Tottenham Hotspur: Kane 5/1, Adebayor 6/1, Soldado 13/2, Chadli 15/2, Eriksen 8/1, Townsend 9/1, Lamela 10/1, Paulinho 11/1, Dembele 14/1, Lennon 16/1, Mason 20/1, Capoue 25/1, Vertonghen 25/1, Bentaleb 25/1, Fazio 30/1, Stambouli 33/1, Rose 33/1, Dier 33/1, Walker 33/1, Kaboul 33/1.

No Goalscorer: 8/1.

www.williamhill.com

REFEREE

Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)

The last time Friend officiated either Albion or Spurs came in the last meeting between the clubs back in September at White Hart Lane, a game Albion won 1-0 thanks to a James Morrison goal.

He refereed two Albion games last season - the 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool in February and the 1-0 defeat at home to Southampton on the opening day of the season.

The Leicestershire official also took charge of two Spurs' games during 2013/14 - the 3-0 win over Stoke City at White Hart Lane in December and the 0-0 draw at Everton in November.

Friend has issued 80 yellow cards and three red in the 19 games he has officiated so far this season.

A full run down of Friend's record when taking charge of Albion games can be found here

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for the game are now on general sale to Albion supporters priced at £39 adults, £29 seniors (over 60s), £25 students/Under-21s and £15 Under-17s.

WEATHER FORECAST

Sunny intervals, 3°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

The Baggies have won only three of 17 Premier League matches against Spurs.

A full fixture history between the two teams can be found here

LAST MEETING AT THE HAWTHORNS

Albion 3-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 12th April 2014, 3.07pm

Albion: Foster; Reid, McAuley, Olsson (Dawson 77), Ridgewell; Amalfitano, Mulumbu, Brunt (c), Dorrans; Sessegnon (Yacob 58); Vydra (Berahino 72). Subs not used: Myhill (gk), Jones, Bifouma, Anichebe.

Goalscorers:  Vydra 1, Brunt 4, Sessegnon 31

Booked: Dorrans 62 (foul), Reid 64 (foul), Ridgewell 84 (foul)

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Naughton, Chiriches (Fryers HT), Kaboul (c), Rose (Townsend 85); Lennon, Chadli (Sigurdsson 78), Paulinho, Eriksen; Adebayor, Kane. Subs not used: Friedel (gk), Veljkovic, Bentaleb, Winks.

Goalscorers:  Olsson 34 (og),  Kane 70, Eriksen 90+4

Booked: Rose 55 (simulation), Eriksen 90 (foul)

Attendance: 25,398

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)

West Brom threw away a three-goal lead as Christian Eriksen's late strike saw Tottenham secure a Barclays Premier League point at The Hawthorns. For the second successive home game, the Baggies were held to a 3-3 draw due to a stoppage-time goal, Eriksen rounding Steven Reid and smashing the ball past Ben Foster deep into the additional period.

Albion had looked to be cruising towards three points in the early stages, racing into a 2-0 lead through strikes from Matej Vydra and Chris Brunt in the first and fourth minutes respectively. After Foster had saved a tepidly-struck penalty from Emmanuel Adebayor, Stephane Sessegnon then capitalised on a Younes Kaboul error to make it 3-0 in the 31st minute. But Tottenham rallied impressively and following Jonas Olsson's own-goal in the 34th, Harry Kane headed in with 20 minutes to go before Eriksen fired in his leveller at the end. It meant West Brom boss Pepe Mel, whose side drew 3-3 with Cardiff in their last Hawthorns encounter, was once again denied his first home win since taking over in January. And having passed up this opportunity, Albion are now only three points clear of the relegation zone in 16th place with five games to go - albeit, one more than the three sides below them. Spurs, meanwhile, are sixth, four points behind fifth-placed Arsenal and six behind fourth-placed Everton, with both those sides having a game in hand over them.

West Brom made a flying start. Less than 30 seconds had elapsed when Morgan Amalfitano well and truly outwitted Danny Rose on the right and put a ball into the box that Hugo Lloris could only push to Vydra, who hooked it into the net. Albion swiftly added another, taking advantage of sloppy play at the back by Spurs as Reid's cross dropped to Brunt via a flick-on and the Baggies skipper volleyed home sweetly. Tottenham looked to hit back quickly and after Kane had fired an attempt wide, the visitors were awarded a penalty around the quarter-hour mark when referee Neil Swarbrick ruled Amalfitano had fouled Rose in the West Brom box. The subsequent effort from the spot by Adebayor was tame and Foster was able to get down to his left to keep it out. Spurs had an escape in the 26th minute when Amalfitano, allowed considerable space in the area, received the ball from Youssouf Mulumbu and drilled it at Lloris, who pushed it over the bar. But after Paulinho sent the ball into Foster's arms from distance, West Brom's third then did arrive and once again Tottenham did themselves no favours in the build-up. Olsson's long hopeful ball forward from defence was headed backwards by Kaboul and taken by Sessegnon, who drove forward while holding off Vlad Chiriches before slotting beyond Lloris. While the West Brom fans gleefully chanted at Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood that he was going to be sacked in the morning, their Spurs counterparts barely knew what had hit them. However, their hopes of a comeback were soon boosted. Only three minutes after Sessegnon's strike, the away side had a goal back when Olsson diverted a cross into the box past his own goalkeeper. And moments later Foster pulled off a great double save, pushing away Paulinho's shot before denying Rose on the rebound.

Tottenham kept up the pressure after the restart and after Rose put an attempt wide, Foster produced further heroics, palming behind an Aaron Lennon strike and then jumping to keep out a lofted Eriksen free-kick. Rose was in the thick of the action once again when he went down in the West Brom area claiming a foul by Reid, only to pick up a booking from Swarbrick for his trouble. Kaboul was to the fore in the brief skirmish that followed, and he then escaped punishment for a collision with Foster which he appeared to have gone into with a slightly high foot. Spurs kept up the tempo and in quick succession Kane saw his marker just beat him to one cross in front of goal and then narrowly failed to stretch enough to connect with another. The striker had his goal within a few minutes, though, rising to head in from Lennon's cross. Eriksen then skewed off-target and Rose smashed over as Tottenham hunted down an equaliser. And it came in dramatic circumstances as the ball came to Eriksen in the box after a cross was flicked on -and the midfielder got the better of Reid before cracking the ball into the net.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Albion coach Gerry Francis managed Spurs for three years between November 1994 and November 1997.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Gerry Armstrong, Freddie Cox, Garth Crooks, Tom Evans, Thomas Evans, Ruel Fox, Márton Fülöp, Charlie Hewitt, George Lee, Colin Lyman, Tom Pangborn, Chris Perry, Graham Roberts, Steve Walford and Doug Witcomb.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR