Our live stream ahead of Sundays Premier League match, WBA vs Aston Villa is now up and running, kicking off at 19.15 GMT
You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, lineups, predictions and much more…
West Brom recorded a 1-1 draw at Manchester City earlier this week, which the majority of the club’s supporters would have been hopeful that the result represented a change of fortunes for Slaven Bilic’s side.
However, less than an hour after the share of the spoils at the Etihad Stadium, it was widely reported that Bilic was on the verge of the sack, a development which was confirmed the following day.
The decision to part ways with Bilic has divided opinion at The Hawthorns, a process not helped by the appointment of a manager in Sam Allardyce who has previously revealed that he is a follower of rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Nevertheless, the veteran boss has been trusted with the task of trying to keep West Brom in the Premier League after a return of just seven points from 13 matches.
Villa head into the West Midlands derby in 11th position after a goalless draw against Burnley earlier this week. Despite dominating the contest against their North-West opponents, failing to breach a resolute defence has left the club in 11th spot in the standings.
Although they have two games in hand on many of the teams above them, Dean Smith’s side have now gone four fixtures without recording a win on familiar territory.
Smith will expect West Brom to rise to the occasion of their first top-flight derby for several years, but there will be a belief that his usually-efficient attack will make amends in the final third should they be presented with opportunities on Sunday night.
The two clubs last met in the Championship playoff semi finals, with Villa going through on penalties at the Hawthorns…
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Sam Allardyce
On the challenge
“I’ve never been so refreshed and ready to come back. It’s been nearly three years away.”
“It can wear you down sometimes, it can take lots out of you. You realise that when I had a break. I’m pent up with energy and I’m ready to take that into this job.”
On Villa
“It’s a shame there aren’t any fans, for a massive local derby. It’ll be subdued because there aren’t fans to chant against each other.”
“But the fans at home will know that the players want to win for the fans. Hopefully if they’re working on Monday, they’ll have one over on the Villa fans.”
“I’ll be very happy if I can beat the Villa. I know it’ll be difficult. As I say, I hope to get the response I want in terms of an impact.”
“You want to give them pointers, not to overload them. We’ve seen it many years, and all of a sudden wins appear from nowhere. I hope that happens here.”
On training
“We did it in the open air, it was a nice day with a bit of sun out. Me and Sammy chatted to the lads on what we can help them with, what we can do and hopefully how the results will come.”
Relish challenge?
“I’d have to, otherwise there’d be no point me coming back into it.”
“We need to make them feel as though they can go out to win, rather than be fearful of playing. They need to be able to deal with, and we need to help them with, the mental pressure.”
“That’ll show in their physical performance. Mental fatigue is much worse than physical fatigue.”
How long to assess the squad?
“We’ll need to make our assessments no later than the second week in January. Then maybe we’ll need to find our recruitment dept.”
“Finding out between now and the end of the window we’ll need to find the players, so behind the scenes it starts now. Can we get them, do they want to come to West Brom, can they make us better?”
“The relationship is critical, because sometimes I’ve taken a job thinking it’d be alright, and it hasn’t been. I knew the most important people would have to be me, Luke and Ken because we’re making the decisions.”
“We want the people under us to work better and more successfully.”
A message to the Albion fans
“Me, Sammy and the boys will be giving everything we’ve got.”
“Hopefully we’ll have the success that we’ve had at other places previously.”
“I’d like to wish Albion fans a happy Christmas and hopefully a happy new year, because we’ve started winning games.”
Raw materials
“There are small changes to be made, and they’ll make all the difference.”
“I watched the Newcastle game – it was a small difference on the cross that could’ve been stopped. It was about shutting him down. You only had to be a metre or so closer and the cross doesn’t come in.”
“You all know about Gayle, because he scored 20 odd goals here, so you don’t let him get in between you.”
“They’ll punish you in the Premier League. A lot of the time you’ll get away with it in the Championship.”
Dean Smith
FORM:
West Bromwich Albion Premier League form: LLWLLD
Aston Villa Premier League form: LWLLWD
LINEUPS:
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Furlong, O’Shea, Ajayi, Gibbs; Phillips, Gallagher, Sawyers, Livermore, Diangana; Grant
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Hause, Mings, Targett; Luiz, McGinn; El Ghazi, Barkley, Grealish; Watkins
THATSAGOAL TIP:
Under 2.5 Goals – 11/10 with FanTeam
Sam Allardyce will be in charge when his new club West Brom take on Aston Villa. The Baggies stood firm to deny Manchester City all three points and will be looking to build on that.
West Brom have generally kept things tight despite not picking up too many points and have not conceded more than two in a game since September when they have had 11 men on the pitch. In fact, since October the 4th, West Brom have conceded more than once on just two occasions.
Meanwhile, Villa have netted just three in four and have seen just one goal in their last two fixtures. Another tight game in the Midlands is likely.
Time to take a look at our WBA vs Aston Villa live match stream as it happens…
You must be logged in to post a comment Login