EPL English Premier League WBA vs Spurs

EPL English Premier League WBA vs Spurs takes place unusually for us on a Saturday! But can we manage a traditional 3pm kick-off, no 3.07pm. However it is all in a good cause and a very worthy one.


All matches will be kicking off 7 minutes later in remembrance of and to mark the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. A period of silence will be held for the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the tragedy on 15th April 1989. My respects go to all the families who suffered as a result of that day.

All games this weekend start 7 minutes late as the FA Cup semi-final that day between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest ended at 3.06 when the crowd were crushed.

In this fixture last year Gareth Bale scored the only goal after 67 minutes to give us the three points in a game we had 70% possession. That was a result of having an extra man as a result of an early sending off.

Tim Sherwood, looking more relaxed now he knows his fate, will be hoping club top scorer Emmanuel Adebayor continues his rich vein of form. He has now scored 13 goals in 19 games since returning from the AVB imposed exile.

Currently we sit in the final Europa League place and fans are divided as to whether we want to hang on to that slot or lose out to Manchester United. We are only a point behind Everton who have a game in hand and only 5 behind Arsenal who sit 4th after a slump in form.

We do have an inferior goal difference to everyone so to overhaul teams we have to add on an extra point. Highly unlikely we could grab 4th, it's a bit of a dilemma whether to cheer that or cheer Everton on to condemn the Gunners to Europa League football next season.

West Brom sit 5 points above the drop zone so both teams could really do with a win as they have Manchester City and Arsenal to play. They have won 2 of their last 4 and look likely to name an unchanged side.

As for ourselves our injury list has not changed, Walker, Lamela, Capoue, Soldado and Vertonghen are all out.  We could also line up with an unchanged team.

I am hoping that Milos Veljkovic can be given some more game time as a late substitute. It would be nice if the game were safe and he could be given 15/20 minutes.

Harry Kane certainly deserves to retain his place after his display against Sunderland. Being a youngster perhaps Sherwood's man management of him will be better than it was for Roberto Soldado when he scored.

I can not see WBA being so accommodating as we were against Liverpool and as Sunderland were against us. Just as we didn't press Liverpool totally negating our high line so Sunderland didn't press us in midfield and simply allowed us to pick passes. Players of the calibre we have will simply enjoy themselves and that did.

The midfield will be far more keenly tested and players will not enjoy the luxury of time on the ball. It will have to be moved quickly to move the opposition around and create opening to exploit. Having two target men gives options of the long ball and gives WBA problems at set pieces.

In their last 20 games WBA have conceded in 85% of them, they have won just 3, drawn 10 and lost 7 scoring 28 goals and letting in 33. More recently in their last 6 home games they have drawn 5 and lost 1, their results being 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 0-3 and 3-3.

By comparison in our last 20 away games we have won 11, drawn 4 and lost 5 scoring and letting in 29 goals. Our last 6 away results have seen 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats, 1-3, 1-1, 0-4, 1-0, 4-0, 4-0.

My XI would be:


Subs: Brad Friedel, Michael Dawson, Milos Veljkovic, Sandro, Mousa Dembele, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Andros Townsend

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