Now that the dust has settled on the transfer window, and the troops have regrouped following the break for International fixtures in all corners of the Globe, it is time to get back to the bread and butter of Premier League football.
For West Bromwich Albion that means a trip to Fulham’s Craven Cottage, the scene of a few pretty horrific recent defeats. Results of 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 (three times) and a particularly gruesome 6-1 mean that Albion are more the prey than the hunter in these killing fields. For some strange reason though, I am feeling more optimistic than perhaps I should be considering recent history and I feel that we can add to both our solitary point collected on Premier League duty at The Cottage, as well as our solitary point for the season so far.
Before the window closed on pre-January transfer activity, West Brom had been lacking creativity, pace and a real physical presence up front. Now that it has shut however, we have added creativity in Morgan Amalfitano, pace in both Scott Sinclair and Stephane Sessegnon and a physical attacking presence in the not inconsiderable shape of Victor Anichebe. Added to what was already a talented and hard-working but small and over-worked squad they give Head Coach Steve Clarke fresh options, not to mention a much-needed boost to the Club as a whole which had began to deflate around it’s own apparent success. With long-term injury victims George Thorne and Zoltan Gera also both nearing a return to action the outlook is a lot brighter in The Black Country than it has been so far this season, despite Albion currently propping up the league.
The continued absence of Ben Foster will be a big loss to Albion right up until he returns to action as, for all their trying or even comments to the contrary, the rest of the goalkeeping corps are simply not up to the same level as Ben. The backline ahead of the deputy keeper will need to be very wary of Darren Bent, who has scored in his last two matches against West Brom, as has Dimitar Berbatov. Berbatov in particular with 3 in the last 2 and 5 goals in 7 matches overall has always enjoyed us as opposition. If we can keep things tight in defence in the same vein as we did at Goodison Park against Everton in the 0-0 draw, we should be able to cause a few more problems going forward against a Fulham side who haven’t been pulling up any trees themselves so far either.
Between the two teams through the first 3 matches, there have been just two goals scored, both by Fulham, seven goals conceded and only four points collected which could point towards a tight encounter, with Fulham’s impressive head-to-head record, coupled with Albion’s inability to trouble the scorers so far, perhaps giving them the slight edge. The fact that only the North-East managerial duo of Alan Pardew and Paolo Di Canio are shorter in the Premier League ‘sack race’ market to be the next managerial casualty signifies the level of scrutiny that both Clarke and his opposite number, ex-Albion midfielder Martin Jol, are perceived to be under.
With a home game against Di Canio’s Sunderland to follow Saturday’s trip to the Capital, it is important to start picking up some points and stringing a run of good performances together. The Hawthorns has been a flat place so far this season but should we put on an encouraging performance on Saturday, it will be rocking again for the visit of The Mackems.
These next two matches are crucial to kick-start the season as following those two come a trip to Old Trafford before the visit of Özil-infused Arsenal. If the pace and attacking intent of both Sinclair and Sessegnon can be correctly utilised and Anichebe hits the ground running in front of an in-the-hole Anelka it all of a sudden presents a much different proposition for opposition defenders to deal with. If we manage to keep Fulham’s attack shackled, it could very well mean that the fans too have a very different emotion to deal with come 4:50pm Saturday afternoon than has accompanied the full time whistle so far this season.
Prediction
Heart: 2-1 Albion
Head: 2-1 Fulham 1-1 draw
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