West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester United. Premier League.
The HawthornsAttendance26,308.
Saturday 17 December 2016 18:53, UK
Chris Smalling is back in the Manchester United squad for Saturday's trip to West Brom in the Premier League.
The defender has been absent since October 23 with a foot complaint and is available at The Hawthorns, returning with United having won their last two games in the Premier League.
West Brom are on fine form themselves, and sit just four points behind United in seventh place.
They've won four of their last six games, and saw off Swansea 3-1 in midweek thanks to a hat-trick from striker Salomon Rondon.
Craig Dawson could return for West Brom after missing Wednesday's 3-1 win over Swansea through suspension.
The defender is available for Saturday's visit of Manchester United but Jonny Evans could miss the game against his former club as he continues to battle a calf injury.
Saido Berahino will once again be unavailable as he tries to regain his fitness having been ruled out of shape by the club and sent on a training programme in France. He is back training with the squad but is now not expected to return until next year. Boaz Myhill (ankle), meanwhile, is struggling.
Aside from Smalling, Antonio Valencia is back after suspension, while Luke Shaw (groin), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (ankle) and Eric Bailly (knee) are unavailable for Manchester United.
West Brom have won three of their last six league meetings with Man Utd (W3 D1 L2) - this after previously going 18 league games without a win against them (D3 L15).
Man Utd have suffered only one defeat in their last 12 league trips to West Brom (W9 D2 L1), but this defeat came in their last trip there in March (0-1).
Wayne Rooney has scored seven goals and assisted four more in his last nine Premier League appearances against West Bromwich Albion.
Rooney needs one more goal away from home in the Premier League to become the all-time top goalscorer in Premier League away games. He's currently on 87 alongside Alan Shearer.
West Brom have been given four red cards in the Premier League against Man Utd; against no side have they received more. One of these came last season, when Gareth McAuley was dismissed at Old Trafford.
West Bromwich Albion have scored a joint league-high nine headed goals this season (the most alongside Crystal Palace).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic's nine goals have won Manchester United eight points this season. No other United player has seen their goals win the side more than two points.
Ibrahimovic has scored 150 goals in his 169 league appearances since the start of 2011-12. He's netted a goal in 99 of these games (59 per cent of them).
Seven weeks ago, Manchester United would have looked at this and thought this isn't bad. Beating Crystal Palace is a great result, regardless of how badly people think Palace are playing. To go and win there under the floodlights is a difficult task.
West Brom are doing brilliantly. They should have got a point at Chelsea, but then Rondon goes and scores three headers and all is well again.
United have turned a corner, though. Mourinho needs to tinker with the team a bit, bring a bit of pace in. This is a hard game, but [Paul] Pogba had his best game against Palace, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic is on absolute fire, and [Michael] Carrick is still the best passer in the country.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (Sky Bet odds 8/1)
There are six Sky Bet Price Boosts available before West Brom host Manchester United on Saturday evening. You can get odds enhanced from 6/1 to 8/1 for United duo Pogba and Ibrahimovic both to score, while Baggies striker Rondon to find the back of the net with a header is pushed out from 6/1 to 7/1. Sky Sports pundit Phil Thompson has a 40/1 top tip for this match as he backs Rondon to open the scoring in a 1-1 draw between the Baggies and Red Devils.
