West Bromwich Albion vs Crystal Palace. Premier League.
The HawthornsAttendance23,531.
Saturday 2 December 2017 14:10, UK
Alan Pardew will take charge of West Brom for the first time against his former side Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Pardew, who was sacked by Palace in December 2016, has replaced Tony Pulis at The Hawthorns after a run of 13 matches without a win in all competitions.
West Brom are winless in the Premier League since opening with two straight victories and are just above the relegation zone.
"The immediate challenge will be to get the results we need to pull ourselves up the table," said Pardew.
"But I'm aware that while I'm joining one of the great, traditional clubs of English football, it is one determined to go forward in the Premier League."
It is not only Pardew up against his old employers on Saturday, as Palace boss Roy Hodgson also faces his former side.
Palace start the weekend bottom of the table but they have only lost once in their last five games.
Pardew could be without Kieran Gibbs and Matt Phillips for his first game in charge. Left-back Gibbs has a thigh problem after coming off against Newcastle on Tuesday while winger Phillips is battling a hamstring injury.
Fellow midfielders Nacer Chadli (hip), James Morrison (Achilles) and Chris Brunt (calf) are all out.
The Eagles drew 0-0 against their rivals but remained bottom of the table and Hodgson revealed Scott Dann, Jeffrey Schlupp, Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic all sat out training on Thursday.
That does not mean all will miss the trip to The Hawthorns although Chung-yong Lee (ankle) and Connor Wickham (knee) are absent.
West Brom have only won two of their last eight league games against Crystal Palace at the Hawthorns (W2 D3 L3), losing 0-2 in the most recent meeting in March 2017.
Roy Hodgson will be returning to the Hawthorns as a manager for the first time since he left in May 2012. The current Palace manager still has the best win percentage (36 per cent) and points-per-game (1.34) of any West Brom manager in Premier League history.
West Brom have only failed to score in one of their five Premier League home games against Palace, scoring at least twice in each of the other four.
Crystal Palace have failed to score in their last nine away Premier League games - no side has ever gone 10 on the road without a goal in the competition.
West Brom have won just 31 points from their 33 Premier League games in 2017 (W7 D10 L16), fewer than any other side to have played in both campaigns.
Alan Pardew is set to become the fifth manager to take charge of at least five different Premier League clubs - he's won three and drawn one of his opening games at his previous four sides.
This is a shocking game for Alan Pardew to start with.
Pardew will have to do something different to Tony Pulis - he can't just put 10 men behind the ball and be negative. He'll need to come out and play. I can't think of a worse side to do that against than Crystal Palace - I know they're at the bottom but they have pace that can hurt you on the counter-attack like Wilfried Zaha, Andros Townsend and Christian Benteke. Away win.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
West Brom are Sky Bet's 7/5 favourites for the victory with Crystal Palace priced at 21/10, the same price as the draw. The Eagles are currently 13/8 fourth favourites for the drop with their hosts next in line in the relegation betting at 9/4. Jay Rodriguez and Salomon Rondon are tied at 9/2 at the head of a wide-open first goalscorer market, with Christian Benteke following at 5/1.
