FULL TIME: West Bromwich Albion 3-2 Crystal Palace
Berahino wastes 30 seconds with some adroit dribbles in a tight space by the corner flag. And that is that! A sensational five-goal thriller comes to an end, and West Brom are the deserved winners. Just about. Palace - nearly as good in the second half as West Brom were in the first - will point to the two non-penalty decisions during that second period. But on the other hand they should have probably been playing with ten men for quite a long time as a result of Adebayor’s first-half rake on Dawson. Swings and roundabouts. And in all honesty, if a team goal like West Brom’s third doesn’t end up winning a match, we might as well Stop Football. Though Connor Wickham’s spectacular second ran it close. Phew. West Brom consolidate 13th position, moving to 35 points, three ahead of Palace in 14th, after a goalfest nobody thought would happen. The glorious unpredictability of sport, right here.
Updated
90 min +4: McClean takes the ball towards the left-hand corner flag, sent in that direction by a wise pass from Fletcher. Not so wise is the way Jedinak trundles over to foul the West Brom winger. Such stupidity. A free kick by the corner flag, and a chance to run the clock down.
90 min +3: A ball thrown into the West Brom box from the right now. Dawson heads clear. The Hawthorns erupts as though a goal was scored. It’s fair to say the tension is palpable.
90 min +1: A throw for Palace out on the left, Wickham having put himself about in the robust style. The ball’s Delaped into the area, but Palace bustle too heartily and the flag goes up for pushing.
90 min: There will be five minutes added onto the end of this magnificent match.
Updated
89 min: Olsson barges into Gayle, 30 yards from goal. There was no need for it, and now Palace have a free kick in a dangerous position. Gayle gets up, and looks like he fancies it. He lashes at the ball, which squirts off harmlessly to the right of the target. That was very ambitious.
87 min: Berahino wins a free kick off Delaney as the pair tussle down the West Brom right. A chance for some clever game management. But do they run the clock down? Nope! The ball’s instantly hoicked down the right, and Berahino is flagged offside. Palace immediately have possession back.
86 min: Rondon is replaced by Sandro. What West Brom have, they’ll try to hold.
85 min: Zaha embarks on a George Best style meander, right to left, before feeding Bolasie on the wing. Bolasie’s cross is cleared. Jedinak picks up possession, and dives across McClean to win a free kick out on the right. The ball’s hoicked into the mixer, and half-cleared. Ward has an ambitious dig; the ball flies wide left of the target.
83 min: Another corner for Palace, this time on the right. Mutch takes. Dann rises on the penalty spot, and crashes a header towards the top right. Gardner, on the line, heads clear! This is absurdly good entertainment.
Updated
81 min: Ledley is replaced by Jedinak. Wickham has another half-chance, out on the left. His shot is blocked out for a corner. The set piece is mopped up.
Updated
GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 3-2 Crystal Palace (Wickham 80)
What a goal this is! Ledley dinks the free kick, awarded for the Cabaye-Chester foul, into the box. McAuley’s attempt at a clearing header is half-arsed, and drops to Wickham, 12 yards out and level with the left-hand post. Wickham lashes a shot into the top right! Unstoppable! Is this on? It could be on, you know.
Updated
78 min: A couple of minutes ago, Cabaye took a knee up the arse from Yacob. The poor man’s in the wars, because now he’s crumped on the shin by Chester, who is booked for his trouble. Having been kicked from pillar to post, he’s hooked by his manager. Coming on: Dwight Gayle, the star of Palace’s three-goal comeback against Liverpool in 2014.
77 min: Zaha smoothly glides into the West Brom box from the right, holds the ball awhile, and lays off to Cabaye, rushing in. Cabaye blasts a hopeless effort miles over the bar. He should at least have made the keeper work. Lovely play by Zaha, though.
76 min: Berahino has been very impressive from deep positions this evening. He sprays a lovely pass down the left with a view to releasing McClean down the flank. Dann steps across to intercept, just in time, or the West Brom winger would have been away.
74 min: The Baggies make their second change of the evening: McClean comes on for Sessegnon.
73 min: Ledley lashes over from 30 yards. Frustration took a hold there, I’ll be bound.
72 min: Bolasie looks to break into the box down the inside-right channel. Fletcher stands his ground, arguably too stubbornly. He blocks the Palace man to the ground. That’s another strong penalty shout, but once again the referee isn’t having a bar of it. That one looked a genuine claim too. Palace could have had a couple of free goes from 12 yards tonight. On another day, they would have.
71 min: Sessegnon, Rondon and Berahino are moving around in a very fluid fashion. A few sassy interchanges as the trio move in from the left, and Sessegnon has space to shoot from 25 yards. His shot is weak and straight at Hennessey.
69 min: Chester, deep on the left, curls towards the far post for Gardner. Kelly is forced to volley the dropping ball out of play for a corner on the right. Kelly clears the set piece too, a basic hoof out of harm’s way.
66 min: West Brom slow things down again, with a lot of little triangles in the middle of the park. Rondon is everywhere right now, always an option for his team-mates. Palace look a little frustrated as the hosts rob them of their momentum.
64 min: Cabaye is booked for coming straight through the back of Yacob. There, that happened in the midfield.
62 min: Kelly rather pointlessly clips Rondon’s heels near the right-hand corner flag. Hennessey plucks the free kick from the sky. There’s not a lot of action happening in the midfield. A sugar rush of a game.
60 min: Rondon makes off down the left and fires a low cross through the Palace box. All the visiting defenders are gadding around upfield like Franz Beckenbauer, so if anyone in blue and white had kept up with play, they’d have had themselves a tap-in. But no. West Brom soon come at Palace again, this time down the right through Dawson, but this time a low cross is hacked clear by Delaney.
58 min: Palace are going hell for leather. Bolasie, tight on the left touchline, swings one into the area for the centre-half Dann. The centre-half! There’s still half an hour to go. Marvellous. Anyway, Dann can’t quite connect, and Foster smothers. This isn’t going to end 3-1. It surely can’t. Both teams are locked into Expansive Mode. It’s great fun to watch.
57 min: Bolasie twists and turns down the left and earns a corner. He’s been very busy since his introduction. The set piece is headed powerfully clear by Chester. But Palace are soon coming back at their hosts, Zaha tearing after a ball down the inside-left. Foster is forced to come off his line and slide clear. It’s a perfect challenge; a nanosecond out, and he’d have conceded a penalty kick.
54 min: Berahino takes a little of the heat out of the game with a smooth sashay down the middle of the field, holding the ball up in the Palace half until friends arrive. Dawson eventually shows on the right, and earns a corner, from which nothing comes. But we’ve a competitive game on here, all of a sudden.
51 min: It might be, you know. A couple of corners for Palace. Both cause all sorts of trouble in the West Brom box. Both are bundled clear. The second corner sees McAuley barge Dann into the back as the Palace man goes up for a header. It should be a penalty. It’s not given. And so West Brom fly up the other end, Berahino cutting in from the left and curling a beauty from 20 yards towards the top right. It’s beaten Hennessey all ends up, but clanks off the corner of the goalframe! It should have been a penalty for 3-2; it was an inch away from 4-1. It’s fair to say this game’s gone slightly weird.
GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 3-1 Crystal Palace (Wickham 49)
What an almighty cock-up by Olsson! A simple ball bouncing down the middle of the park, towards the West Brom box. Instead of hoicking clear, Olsson opts to shepherd the ball back to Foster. It’s never getting there, and Wickham, on Olsson’s shoulder, can hook a leg out to send the ball over Foster. He rounds the keeper on the left and lashes the dropping ball home. Is the comeback on, then?
Updated
48 min: Gardner sends Rondon jigging down the left wing. Rondon reaches the byline, having sent Dann spinning around like a teenager on Special Brew. He loops a cross to the far post, where Berahino can’t quite bundle home. So close to a fourth. But then up the other end...
46 min: Incidentally, Bolasie has come on for Adebayor, who should probably have been red-carded during that first-half shambles. His first act is to bowl over Sessegnon in the middle of the park.
And we're off again!
Palace get the ball rolling for the second half. Do they have any hope? Perhaps. A little. Not much, but a little. The last time West Brom were 3-0 up here in the Premier League - against West Ham in February 2011 - they were pegged back and had to settle for a 3-3 draw. And you only have to ask your nearest Liverpool fan about Palace’s penchant for hauling back three-goal deficits. So maybe. Perhaps. Well, probably not, but you never know. Meanwhile in other optimism news, here’s JR in Illinois: “Holy crow, what team am I watching here? I’m pretty sure this is the beginning of the Baggies’ takeover of America. I officially take back 50% of the mean things I’ve said about Pulis this season. A real shame to see Brunt go off like that. Puts a damper on the best half of the season.”
Half-time entertainment: Palace v Baggies from the 1980-81 season. Featuring a fine goal from Cyrille Regis, two of the best strips in the entire history of All Football, and West Brom manager Ron Atkinson, wired up in the dugout, bollocking winger Peter Barnes live on ITV. Very much worth a couple of minutes of your time.
HALF TIME: West Bromwich Albion 3-0 Crystal Palace
The first ten minutes were probably the worst of the entire Premier League season. Palace never improved, but Albion sprung into life, playing some wonderful football at times. Their third goal in particular was the work of an art collective. Simply stunning. They’re worthy of their three-goal lead; they’ve been as good as Palace have been abysmal. Who predicted a goalfest like this, huh? NBC viewers are getting a rare treat.
45 min +4: Zaha looks to break into the West Brom box down the right. He’s checked unfairly by Yacob. From the resulting free kick, there’s a bit of pinball in the box. Mutch, to the left of goal and 12 yards out, fires towards the bottom right. It’s going in, but hacked off the line by Olsson. Nothing’s gone Crystal Palace’s way so far.
45 min +3: ... his low, hard shot clips the boot of Ward, on the penalty spot, and deflects onto the base of the left-hand post! The ball goes out for a corner, which Hennessey claims easily enough.
45 min +2: Sessegnon makes off at pace down the inside-right channel, and is stopped illegally by Mutch, 30 yards from goal. Yet another free kick in a dangerous position. West Brom load the box. Gardner takes, and ...
45 min: There will be five added minutes to the first half, in the wake of Brunt’s injury. Zaha touches the ball a couple of times, and gets the bird from the home fans.
44 min: Zaha was a wee bit incensed because he was penalised for a foul after that incident. But there was no contact with Brunt, and in fact Zaha would have been clear down the right. Technically he’s correct, but a couple of his team-mates come over and tell him that it’s best left. Brunt looks to have a serious knee injury, and is in a lot of distress as he’s carried off. In fairness to Zaha, I don’t think he was aware of Brunt’s injury, and he quickly calms down. Chester comes on in Brunt’s stead.
42 min: Poor old Chris Brunt’s misery continues. Hit by a coin last week, and now he’s just seriously twisted his right knee when chasing a loose ball alongside Zaha and catching his studs in the turf. He immediately went down in a lot of pain, and will be carried off on the stretcher.
40 min: Palace are sleepwalking around. Ward dilly-dallies in the middle of the park. There’s nobody near him. But he takes so long that Berahino is able to get across and hassling him into a miscontrol. Throw to West Brom, and possession squandered.
38 min: Zaha back-flicks wonderfully down the right to release Kelly into a little space. The full back whips a high cross into the mixer. Mutch rises, but can only head harmlessly wide right of goal. Palace have been insipid in attack.
36 min: A frustrated Kelly barges Gardner - who was going nowhere - off the field down the West Brom left. A daft free kick to concede, and another chance to load the box and cause Palace problems. But Gardner inexplicably plays this one short, and all the resulting faffing relieves the pressure on the visitors.
33 min: Dann strides forward, along the right-side channel, and balloons a forward pass out of play, miles to the left of the West Brom goal. On the touchline, all the blood has drained from Alan Pardew’s face. The Hawthorns is the highest ground in England, but I’m guessing that’s not an altitude-related problem.
GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 3-0 Crystal Palace (Berahino 31)
Oh this is a gorgeous goal. Sensational. Dawson, deep in his own half, plays forward to Rondon, who whips a first-time pass out to the right wing. Sessegnon launches a pinpoint diagonal ball to Berahino, who has broken into the area. The ball drops onto his left foot. Berahino opens his body and sidefoots into the bottom right. That’s such a sweet move, from front to back. What an assist, and what a finish! The Baggies have gone goal crazy!
Updated
30 min: A period of sterile possession for Palace, all in the midfield. They’re going nowhere. Zaha attempts to inject a bit of oomph into their play down the right, but he’s crowded out of it.
27 min: Now Fletcher goes sliding in on Cabaye. It’s a bit reckless, and he should go in the book too, but the referee doesn’t see too much of a problem with the challenge. After some treatment, the Palace midfielder gives his assailant a mouthful. Fletcher responds with a verbal volley of his own. All of a sudden, this match is threatening to boil over a wee bit.
25 min: Adebayor is booked for raking his boot down Dawson’s shin. It was a nasty challenge and he’s lucky not to see red.
22 min: Palace are all over the shop right now. Shocked and stunned, they’re allowing the hosts to swing balls into their area from both flanks with absurd regularity. Dann and Kelly deal with everything here, but they can’t carry on like this much longer.
GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Crystal Palace (Dawson 20)
Gardner, tight on the byline to the right of the Palace box, whips high and hard to Dawson, who rises on the left-hand corner of the six-yard area and plants an unstoppable header into the right-hand portion of the net! Hennessey had no chance. Our Saturday evening goalfest is very much on!
Updated
19 min: Sessegnon causes more busy bother down the right. On the edge of the Palace box, near the byline, he’s hauled back by Delaney. And from the free kick...
17 min: Dawson clips Mutch late, and goes into the referee’s book. Nothing much comes from the resulting free kick on the left, but another’s soon won by Palace on the right, Zaha’s feet too quick for the lumbering Brunt. Adebayor can’t quite get his head on the free kick, but Olsson is forced to head behind for a corner. Dann heads harmlessly wide from the set piece.
15 min: Ward takes down the busy Dawson, near the right-hand corner flag. Gardner takes, but it’s punched clear by Hennessey with ease. The Baggies are soon boinging back at Palace, though, Berahino and Rondon combining down the inside-left channel. Rondon can’t quite work room for a shot. The ball breaks back to Gardner, who hits a shot down into the ground and over the bar from distance.
GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Crystal Palace (Gardner 12)
And this is a lot better! Rondon is sent scampering into the area, down the inside-right channel, by a wonderful slide-rule pass by Berahino. Rondon hits low and hard across Hennessey towards the bottom left. The keeper sticks a leg out to save well, but can only set Gardner up for a simple tap-in. That’s a gorgeous team goal! And this game springs into life!
Updated
11 min: Dawson plays a ball down the right for Sessegnon, who suddenly turns on the jets to power past Ward. He lashes a superb cross into the area, but there’s nobody there to convert. That’s a little better!
9 min: Something happens, sort of. Dawson hugs the right touchline, and swings a low cross into the mixer, towards Berahino at the near post. But the striker’s not on the front foot, and the ball sails harmlessly into the arms of Hennessey.
8 min: It’s very difficult to describe or recreate the sensation of a void. It makes you realise what a stunning piece of art Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles is.
6 min: There’s absolutely no rhythm to this game yet. The away fans are doing their best to bring a little of that special Selhurst bounce to the Hawthorns. A lot of singing in lieu of action.
4 min: Possession is still very much at a premium right now. Nothing constructive is being achieved. The only way is up.
2 min: A lot of scrappy nonsense at the start. Neither team has a handle on control yet. And on that subject, here’s JR in Illinois: “Here in the US this game is being broadcast on one of the big four national television networks, NBC. I am more than a little worried that my Baggies are going to put any casual fans who happen to tune in to this one off the sport.” Hey, we sat through this year’s Super Bowl, it’s America’s turn to show a bit of patience.
Updated
And we're off!
The hosts get the ball rolling. And they head forward immediately with purpose, Rondon doing his best to break into the box down the inside-right channel, only to be stopped in his tracks by Delaney.
The teams are out! West Brom sport those famous dark blue and white stripes, while Palace wear their first-choice garb too, all red and blue. The atmosphere at the Hawthorns is pretty excitable given the two teams’ lack of potency. Everyone doing their bit. We’ll be off in a minute.
And now it’s the turn of Alan Pardew to talk. “The result at Spurs gave us a lift as you’d expect. Our league form has been disappointing. We can’t afford to let this game get away from us. We need to take something away. We’ve had a terrible injury run with our offensive players, and now they’re all back. So our defenders are a bit relieved, there’s something up top, and we can play our game. There’s a renewed tenacity.” It’s probably worth pointing out that the Palace boss looked a lot happier and more relaxed than some of these words make him sound. Perhaps he’s just good at poker.
Every Cloud dept. A silver lining, as the decent West Bromwich Albion majority respond to the actions of that clown who pinged a 50p coin off Chris Brunt’s noggin last weekend.
Tony Pulis is of the opinion that “enough has been said” about the whole affair. “We talk too much about idiots, and give them too much grace on national television. Let’s concentrate on football.” Fair enough. Let’s do that. “Our home form has been pretty good since Christmas, two wins and two draws in the league, so another today would be nice. It’s nice to be back at the Hawthorns. Hopefully if we get off to a good start, we can put a good performance in.”
West Brom make four changes to the team that started at Reading last weekend. Craig Dawson, Gareth McAuley, Claudio Yacob and Craig Gardner come in; James Chester, James McClean and Sandro step down to the bench, while Jonny Evans is hamstrung.
Crystal Palace meanwhile won at Spurs last Sunday. And if it ain’t broke, it ain’t broke. They name the same starting XI.
This evening's teams
West Bromwich Albion: Foster, Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Brunt, Fletcher, Yacob, Gardner, Sessegnon, Rondon, Berahino.
Subs: Chester, Anichebe, Myhill, McClean, Lambert, Pritchard, Sandro.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Kelly, Dann, Delaney, Ward, Zaha, Cabaye, Ledley, Mutch, Adebayor, Wickham.
Subs: Speroni, Mariappa, Bolasie, Lee, Jedinak, Gayle, Chamakh.
Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire).
Good evening!
We’re not Sky Sports, so we’re under no obligation to pretend this match is anything other than a difficult sell. West Bromwich Albion have recently been knocked out of the cup in pitiful fashion at second-tier Reading. They’ve scored just two goals in their last five league matches. They’ve won only two of their last 11 games; one of those victories came against struggling Championship side Bristol City. Only doomed Aston Villa have scored fewer Premier League goals this season. It’s been a poor show.
Luckily for Tony Pulis, there are smokescreens. Chris Brunt took a coin in the coupon from his own fans after the Reading defeat; the actions of a lone nutter are expected to be condemned by the greater good during this game. Saido Berahino meanwhile has just apologised for threatening to go on strike over a planned move to Tottenham Hotspur. And look! Over there! A puppy!
To be fair to Pulis, his Baggies have just won away at Everton, and are well clear of the relegation zone. So it’s not a total disaster. The performances haven’t been up to much, though, and the fans could be quite a bit happier. A home match against Crystal Palace, who haven’t won a league game yet in 2016, offers an opportunity for his men to raise their game and turn things around.
Palace aren’t exactly consummate entertainers either. They’ve failed to win any of their last nine league games, scoring just four goals in the process. Having bothered the European places earlier in the season, they’re now down in the bottom half, neck-and-neck with West Brom on 32 points. They need to get their chops up, too, and quick. A win last weekend at Spurs in the FA Cup has come at just the right time, so they’ll be confident of ending their Premier League drought tonight against a side they saw off fairly easily at Selhurst Park earlier in the season.
OK, so recent results suggest this might not be a goalfest. But classics have a habit of springing out of nowhere. Both of these sides could do with a positive result, after all, so hopefully here’s where they suddenly burst into life, and deliver an end-to-end Saturday evening spectacular. Perhaps with goals flying in every ten minutes or so. Why not? Let’s dare to dream. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm GMT.
Updated
