West Brom v Reading: Will it be a Royal day for Rodgers' men?
Saturday will be a historic occasion for the 30,000+ fans at the Hawthorns on Saturday. No, Albion fan Adrian Chiles has not promised to keep his gob shut for once. This my friends will be the very first top flight clash between West Brom and Reading. But who will be celebrating come the final whistle?
The Baggies were brought back down to Earth last weekend at Fulham, as Peter Odemwingie lost his cool. However, given their appalling record at the Cottage the defeat didn't come as much of a shock. This weekend they will be back in familiar territory and Steve Clarke will be hoping his side can keep their terrific home form going. Two games, six points, five goals, none conceded. That's impressive stuff.
Reading though will be looking to record their first win of the season and the pleasing thing for the visitors is that Brendan Rodgers' men will surely never play as poorly as they did in the first half against Spurs. The Royals were slow, disjointed and showed Spurs way too much respect. That is not the Reading way.
Despite losing 16 of their past 28 league meetings with the Baggies, the visitors have fond memories of the Hawthorns from their last visit. That came in the FA Cup in February 2010 when the Royals fought back twice to knock the Albion out of the cup 3-2 after extra time. Almost three years have past since then but James Morrison, who played in that game, will be looking to set the record straight - especially as the Royals also knocked them out of the cup the following year too.
Six of the past seven games have ended in high scoring affairs so it could be one to look out for on your Goals, Goals, Goals coupon. But who will emerge victorious?
West Brom v Reading;
Kick off 3pm September 22 2012
Prediction Panel
|
Arsenal |
Josh Ben Moshe |
1 |
V |
0 |
|
Aston Villa |
Frank Pattison |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Chelsea |
Joe Tyler |
1 |
V |
0 |
|
Everton |
Chris Goodwin |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Fulham |
Neil Springate |
2 |
V |
2 |
|
Liverpool |
Dave Disciascio |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Man City |
Callum Rothwell |
2 |
V |
2 |
|
Man United |
Alex Richert |
1 |
V |
0 |
|
Newcastle |
Greg Hall |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Norwich |
Sue Read |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
QPR |
John Jaycock |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Reading |
Jon Keen |
2 |
V |
2 |
|
Southampton |
Andy Saunders |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Stoke City |
Jack Heaney |
TBA |
V |
TBA |
|
Sunderland |
Tony Ratton |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Swansea |
Jim Barry |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Spurs |
Mike Richards |
3 |
V |
1 |
|
West Brom |
Andy Wakeman |
1 |
V |
1 |
|
West Ham |
Matt Beeby |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Wigan |
Jimmy Shine |
1 |
V |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OUR EXPERTS |
|
|
|
|
|
Writer |
Colin Illingworth |
3 |
V |
1 |
|
Writer |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
|
Writer |
Hugh Larkin |
1 |
V |
0 |
|
Writer |
Mitch Waddon |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Writer |
Chris Pettitt |
3 |
V |
2 |
|
Writer |
Sarshar Hosseinnia |
3 |
V |
2 |
|
Blackburn fan |
Terry Kennedy |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Bolton fan |
David Blackburn |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Boro fan |
Sue Gardener |
2 |
V |
2 |
|
Pompey fan |
Dan Taylor |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Pompey fan |
Peter Rendle |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
West Ham fan |
Nigel Telfer |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Wolves fan |
Chris Cox |
1 |
V |
0 |
|
Editor |
Antony Melvin |
2 |
V |
1 |
Panel Verdict
The answer to the headline is a resounding no.
Home: 27; Draw: 6; Away: 0. TBA 1
* Do we have it right or do you know better? We’d love to hear from you.
