West Brom vs Newcastle United - Match Preview

For the home team, 2011/12 has been a season of fluctuation, with some excellent performances, including the December win at St James Park sporadically dotted between less impressive runs of form , which have seen Roy Hodgson's men take up 14th position in the league. But the Baggies' last five games have seen just one defeat, and they can realistically hope for a repeat of last year's top half finish if they can continue that rich run of form into the final games of the season. They certainly play some good football, even when they are beaten, and it is no coincidence that Hodgson's name is once more being linked with the England manager's position. Newcastle meanwhile have loftier ambitions at the minute, with Chelsea ahead of them in fifth place now just three points away, and a cushion of five points remaining between them and seventh placed Liverpool, who look to be on a catastrophic run of results. A win would see Alan Pardew's men making a massive stride towards European qualification just two years after relegation to the Championship, and their form at times this season would certainly justify that. To beat West Brom, however, Newcastle will have to be a lot better than they were last week against Norwich, and they will have to learn to cope better with counter-attacking teams (a persistent thorn in the Magpies's side all season). The smart money would be on both teams scoring.

Team News

West Brom can welcome back Jonas Olsson after his one-match ban, with Liam Ridgewell likely to make way by moving across to left-back, and are hopeful of Peter Odemwingie shaking off his hamstring strain to return along with him. Zoltan Gera and Steven Reid will both miss out thanks to long term injuries. Newcastle's long-term injury list still includes Leon Best, Sammy Ameobi, Sylvain Marveaux, Peter Lovenkrands and Steven Taylor, but goalkeeper Steve Harper and young Irish winger Shane Ferguson are both back in training. Ahead of the game, the Magpies also have fresh concerns over main Cheick Tiote, who is only rated at 50/50 with the hamstring problem that kept him out last week, as well as Ryan Taylor and Gabriel Obertan. The Ivorian is the most likely of the three to get the nod to play, with Ryan Taylor said to be definitely out, and Obertan likely to be on the bench. Possible WBA Team: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Scharner, Morrison, Mulumbu, Brunt, Long, Odemwingie. Possible Newcastle Team: Krul, Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, Perch, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Ba, Cisse. Referee: Chris Foy.