West Brom are something of a bogey team for Newcastle managers: four years ago they masterminded a 3-1 defeat that ended Chris Hughton's reign, and on the final day of that same season, they came back from 3-0 down to grab a draw and stop Alan Pardew finishing in the top half. Though the tide has seemingly changed for Pardew this season, West Brom are an entirely different prospect to playing Man City, Spurs and Liverpool, and it's unlikely that his rope-a-dope tactics will work if Irvine's team don't attack as openly or over-stretch themselves. The team should hopefully play with more confidence after 10 points from a possible 12, but the set-up needs to be different to overcome a different threat. West Brom will be hoping that Saido Berahino takes his England call-up confidence into the game, and adds to his goals haul of 7 so far, along with 7 assists. They will now know that over-committing against Newcastle can mean being punished at pace on the break, and having started to find their feet under Irvine there shouldn't be any fear in the ranks. But with Arsenal and Chelsea coming up, Irvine might want to get some points on the board knowing harder prospects are ahead.
