West Bromwich Albion - The Basics Nickname: The Baggies Founded: 1878 Chairman: Jeremy Peace Head Coach: Tony Pulis Head to Head Won: 10 Drawn: 8 Lost: 17 West Brom hold the upper hand against Watford in the most recent meetings, our last victory was in an FA Cup match in 2003 and you have to go all the way back to 1995 for our last league win. The last time the teams met was a little over 5 years ago in the Championship, when a rare Danny Graham goal from outside the box looked to have secured victory for the Hornets before we conceded a customary last minute equaliser, this time from Chris Brunt. West Brom gained automatic promotion in their next game and have remained in the Premier League since. http://www.11v11.com/teams/watford/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/West Bromwich Albion A closer look at our opponents West Brom began last season with Alan Irvine in charge, however after a series of poor results he was sacked at the end of December with West Brom hovering just 1 point above the relegation zone. Tony Pulis took charge and quickly turned their season around, finishing in a respectable 13th place and with little worry of relegation. Pulis also led the team to the quarter finals of the FA Cup, where they lost 2-0 to fierce rivals Aston Villa in a game remembered for the pitch invasions at the end of the match. This summer long-standing chairman and owner Jeremy Peace came very close to selling the club to a Chinese consortium. The sale was expected to be completed within a month after it was announced on 3rd July that Peace had entered into an exclusivity period with the unnamed party. However, the deal collapsed at the end of the month after they failed to come to an agreement. Peace is still looking to sell the club and has been in discussions with a number of different groups, but he remains committed to ensuring that any takeover is in the best interests of the club and so any deal will likely not be completed for several months. West Brom began their season on Monday night when they welcomed last season's runners-up Man City to the Hawthorns. They were easily dispatched 3-0 by a superb Man City performance led by Yaya Toure and David Silva. West Brom will be looking to quickly forget that game and will arrive at Vicarage Road fully intending to pick up their first points of the season. The one positive for West Brom that night was the announcement of record signing Salomon Rondon for £12m. The Venezuelan striker scored 20 goals in 37 games for Zenit St Petersburg last season and will be looking to impress if he features on Saturday. Alongside Rondon, West Brom have also brought in winger James McClean, centre-back James Chester from Hull, the experienced Rickie Lambert and young Arsenal midfielder Serge Gnarby on a season-long loan. West Brom have not yet lost any significant players from last season; Youssuf Mulumbu and Chris Baird were the most regular members of least years team to depart and both were allowed to leave on free transfers. Fans however will be hoping to hold on to Saido Berahino following strong interest from teams such as Tottenham, and rumours of his departure have only increased following the signing of Rondon. Last Line up vs. Man City Ben Foster is still out injured with the knee injury he suffered in March of last season so Boaz Myhill will continue in goal. Defender Gareth McAuley is also a doubt with a calf injury he picked up in pre-season. Rondon should be fit enough to start seeing as the Russian League began almost a month ago, however he has rarely featured for Zenit this season. Other players such as Claudio Yacob and Stéphane Sessègnon will be pushing for starts. Watford Team News Line-up in the last game against Everton: Gomes Nyom Cathcart Prodl Holebas Capoue Behrami Anya Juardo Layun Deeney I wouldn't be surprised to see the team unchanged after Watford earned such an excellent draw against Everton. Juardo came through the game unscathed after being a slight doubt for the match. However, being the first home game of the season you never know with Flores, he may choose to adopt a different formation as he liked to try out a few different systems in pre-season. Ighalo will also be pushing to start after scoring when he came off the bench; in fact Flores stated the reason he didn't start was because he had hardly trained all week due to injury. Vydra, if he features, will want to impress against his former loan club and prove to them that he can do it in the Premier League. Abdi is still a doubt with a knee injury and it remains to be seen if Berghuis will be ready after his own injury problem. New signings Britos and Arlauskis will serve the last match of their respective suspensions. As such, Rafael Romo is expected to be ready as third choice keeper should anything happen to either Gomes or Gilmartin. Attacking midfielder Alessandro Diamanti has also already stared training with the club in anticipation of his signing on a season-long loan, however with the move yet to be confirmed it seems unlikely he'll be involved. Ekstrand is the only other long term injury. Final Thoughts This is it, our first home game in the Premier League for 9 seasons! The atmosphere should be electric, with the 1881 movement continuing to grow and becoming more influential. As for the match itself, it's difficult to predict what the result will be. It is a game we will be aiming to win, but with great attacking players in Berahino and Rondon I reckon we'll need to score at least a couple ourselves to emerge victorious. West Brom will want to quickly get over their thrashing at the hands of Man City and will be backed by a sold out crowd of 2,100 away fans. So with all that said, I’m going for a 2-1 win for the Hornets, Deeney and Ighalo with the goals.
There are no easy games in the Prem, being a bit unknown we have an 'edge' but if we are just 5% from our best we will lose
I love all the info here in the build up to Sat. After our decent start and WBA's not so decent start, I can only see a poll of mainly Watford fans on a Watford site going one way!
Nervous about this one. Tony Pulis successfully fashions horrible sides designed to punch well above their weight. I'd take a point now, and you won't hear me say that too often, even in the Premier League. We can beat their team in a straight game of football, but Pulis drills his players to drag their opposition down. If this game was a few months down the line, I'd have more confidence in the likes of Behrami and Holebas to stand up properly to their antics, but I've got a nasty feeling we might get caught off guard and collect some naive, and potentially costly cards in this game.
It'll be very interesting to see how Pulis approaches the game. They've just been humped by City (expectedly) and will be desperate to register at least a point. It would be typical Pulis to come here and set up his side for a point. I agree that they're a dangerous side. First goal is crucial, if they get it it could be a frustrating afternoon as Pulis sides are known to have a solid base and being 'air tight'. If we get it, they'll have to come out and play and I would fancy us against most teams on the counter attack. It'll be very interesting to see the side QSF picks, does he keep faith in the 11 that did brilliantly at Everton? If Abdi's fit, does he play? Good problems to have for any manager as we've plenty of options to choose from. Gomes Nyom Cathcart Prodl Holebas Behrami Capoue Layun Jurado Vydra Deeney That's the team I would pick, Vydra's pace in behind their slow defence will be interesting, especially if we can get ourselves ahead in the game. Ighalo has probably done enough to earn a start, but personally from the point of the 'teams shape' I don't see him being very affective in a three behind Deeney, only in a forward role alongside Deeney. Harsh? Perhaps, but that's the joy of having such a talented squad. I'm going for a 1-0 win, Vydra to score in the first half. Let's just hope Behrahino isn't 'on it' and is sulking for a move away, on his day he can take the game away from anyone. Very tough and intriguing game.
Two changes I'd make from last Saturday: I'd have Vydra in for Anya, and play him on the right hand side of the three behind Deeney. Then I'd have Ighalo in for Layun, and play him in the centre with Jurado to his left. A bit tough on Layun, I know. It's also a bit tough on Diamanti, who I can't wait to see. Thing is, I think you have to select Ighalo if fit, simply for the fact that the man is as near a goal guarantee as we've got. You've also got to have one of Vydra or Anya for their pace to turn and stretch defences. Anya was doing that okay-ish on Saturday, but he's nowhere near as instinctively dangerous as our Matej.
Gomes Nyom Prodl Cathcart Holebas Capoue Behrami Jurado Ighalo Anya Deeney Subs: Gilmartin, Angella, Hoban, Watson, Layun, Forestieri (Replaced by Abdi or Berghuis if fit), Vydra Staggered people consider leaving out Anya - he was key on Saturday and will be throughout the season. I'd only consider replacing him with a fully fit Abdi right now.
I can see us winning this if we keep up the performance from Everton. Add in more attacking players though since we're going to be on the attack Gomes, Nyom, Cathcard, Prodl, Holebas, Capoue, Behrami, Anya, Ighalo, Jurado, Deeney
Time for some much needed revenge for the 3-0 they inflicted on us at Vicarage Road in 07/08 - this was the game where it hit home that the "Watford promotion push had fallen off the tracks", as the WBA-supporting Nigel Pearson said on talksport around that time. 3-0 Watford, Deeneyx2 and Layun again. They can then bring on Salomon Rondon, only for him to smack a long shot wide of the post and for us to chant "what a waste of money!".
Hope Deeney bullies Lescott McClean is a tw*t They have good attacking options so long as we defend well I think we could nick this and possibly even grab 2 or 3. However, Tony Pulis did say he made a mistake playing two up top last week so I can see him being conservative and not wanting to lose, their result to Man City last night didn't help us at all.
Nah the certs to go down tag is still with us, he'll set up with two strikers and will be hunting for the win. We'll play pretty much the same formation as Saturday but with different personnel in some positions and probably more on the front foot .... I certainly can't see our three main strikers being on at the same time unless it's with ten to go and we're chasing a goal.
Our pace will threaten their back line so I can see them sitting deep and hitting us on the counter if need be. Gnabry and Berahino will cause us issues.
Nasty feeling that we might get a WBA backlash after their awful performance on Monday night. Can't shake off the nagging feeling we will lose 0-1 (lambert) BUT then get our first PL win next Sunday in a thriller v Southampton. Usually wrong though and Brom were awful v Man City..they certainly looked beatable on that evidence. And the script is calling for a Vydra winner!!
He said he'd learned his lesson against the 'bigger sides', which was to pack the midfield. I don't think we count as a 'big side' just yet, so I reckon he'll go for the win with as close to the same line up as he did against City - hopefully with a similar result. As I may have said before, I don't think opposition supporters will tolerate a defensive line up against tinpot Watford.
For 1 game, against lesser opposition! Don't get me wrong, it's nice to think we suddenly aren't considered the whipping boys of the league (after only 1 game), but kinda screws up how much I was going to win this weekend!
Remember when West Brom fans - now managed by Tony Pulis - beat us when we were managed by Boothroyd and sang ''3-0 to the football team''? Would be beautiful if we won and could repay the favour to them eight years on.
My post was not to be taken too seriously (although factually accurate). I guess people are putting money on us having seen we're not too shabby after all, therefore shifting the odds at the bookies
I have a feeling Flores will go for 4-4-2 due to a lack of pace in the WBA defence 1-0 win (Ighalo) .........................................................Gomes .........Nyom....................Cathcart..........................Prodl....................Holebas ........Jurado..........................Capoue................Behrami.....................Anya ..........................................Deeney................Ighalo
Think QSF will still be cautious - we're a new team finding its feet Same lineup started at Everton, maybe Abdi for Anya
