West Brom v Newcastle preview: Gary Megson leads Baggies again
Tuesday 28 November 2017 18:51, UK
Gary Megson will take charge of West Brom again as they host struggling Newcastle in the Premier League on Tuesday (kick-off 8pm).
Megson is the caretaker manager after Tony Pulis' sacking and oversaw a 1-1 draw at Tottenham at the weekend.
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Alan Pardew has been in talks to succeed Pulis, but Megson said on Monday: "I'm just doing this job for as long as I'm told and we'll see what happens after that. I'll sure they'll take their time and get the person they want."
West Brom's draw with Spurs ended a run of four straight defeats, which is the same streak Newcastle will be looking to halt when they travel to The Hawthorns.
The Magpies were booed by some fans during the 3-0 defeat at home to Watford on Saturday, but manager Rafa Benitez said: "We are 14th in the league and we are in a good position.
"Still, we can win some games and we can lose some games and it could be more difficult, but, again I will say: what is our target? What do we want to achieve? To stay in the Premier League. Nobody was saying that it would be easy."
Team news
West Brom will check on the fitness of Chris Brunt after he missed out against Tottenham due to a calf problem.
Fellow midfielders Nacer Chadli (hip) and James Morrison (Achilles) are making progress but the game will probably come too soon for them to be involved.
Isaac Hayden will return to the Newcastle squad after missing Saturday's 3-0 home defeat by Watford through suspension.
Fellow midfielder Mikel Merino was used as a substitute against the Hornets after recovering from a back injury, but full-back Paul Dummett (hamstring), central defender Jamaal Lascelles (foot) and winger Christian Atsu (groin) are still out.
Opta stats
West Brom have won two of their last three home league games against Newcastle, as many as in their previous 12 matches combined.
West Brom have scored just seven goals in their last nine Premier League games against Newcastle and have never scored more than once in a match in this run.
Newcastle have secured just one win and six points in their last 17 Premier League games away from home (W1 D3 L13).
West Brom have the oldest average starting XI this season in the Premier League (29y 197d), Newcastle have had the second youngest (25y 316d) behind Spurs.
Since scoring three goals from six shots (50%) against Swansea in December 2016, Salomon Rondon has netted just three times from 59 shots (5%) in 36 Premier League appearances - although one of these came in West Brom's 1-1 draw at Spurs on Saturday.
Merson's prediction
A brilliant result for Gary Megson at Spurs and they really should have won it with Salomon Rondon missing that sitter at the end. So I am going to go for West Brom to win this as Newcastle were all over the shop against Watford - welcome to the Premier League now, four defeats on the trot. I am not exaggerating, Watford could have won 8-0! Newcastle are all over the place and I am going to go 2-0 to West Brom.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (17/2 with Sky Bet)
Betting
West Brom are Sky Bet's 13/10 favourites for the victory with Newcastle priced at 12/5, while the draw is a 2/1 chance. Salomon Rondon is enhanced from 5/1 to 6/1 in Sky Bet's Price Boosts to break the deadlock again, while Dwight Gayle, Joselu and Aleksandar Mitrovic are all 13/2 chances to net first.
West Brom v Newcastle is included in Tuesday's round of Super 6, with £250,000 up for grabs for predicting six correct scores.
