West Bromwich Albion v Palace

The Hawthorns, Saturday 3.00pm

Aki Riihilahti

Team news

Defender Mikele Leigertwood played in midfield after RIIHILAHTI failed a late fitness test before last weekend's 1-0 win at home to Norwich City.

Darren Powell is in the squad after his move to Reading was blocked by manager Iain Dowie. Ben Watson is also named in the squad after recovering from his groin injury.

Nico Vaesen, on loan from Birmingham City, will keep his place in between the sticks.

West Brom's Geoff Horsfield faces a late fitness test on a a calf injury. Larus Sigurdsson is out for the season after suffering a cruciate ligament injury.

West Bromwich Albion - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
2nd	37	20	10	7	70

Full league table

West Bromwich Albion - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	3	1	1	7	3

Full form table

Our away record v West Bromwich Albion

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
17	10	3	4	26	21

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
20/09/2003	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	West Bromwich Albion
21/04/2002	League	West Bromwich Albion	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
31/10/2001	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	West Bromwich Albion
03/02/2001	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	West Bromwich Albion
03/09/2000	League	West Bromwich Albion	1 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

One to watch

Jason Koumas

West Bromwich Albion's top scorer

Rob Hulse - 13 goals

West Bromwich Albion's bad boy

Bernt Haas - 10 0

Palace old boys

None

When I came to doing this preview I sat down and thought, now who is West Brom’s best player? Who is the one who is on top form? Then I came up with a list of about 6 players all of which I believe deserve to be my one to watch. There’s Lee Hughes who is a quality striker and loves scoring against us, he always seems to. There’s Geoff Horsfield who has made a massive impact since his move from Wigan in the summer, he showed his quality in November by humiliating us in the infamous 5-0 defeat.

There’s the Baggies Andy Johnson, who hasn’t nearly as much speed as our AJ but has the same if not more skill with the ball and is a quality midfielder who can slice up most defences with one ball.

At the back there’s Thomas Gaardsøe who in my opinion is one of the best defenders in the league and he scores goals as well so he always a threat going forward.

There’s goalkeeper Russell Hoult who is one of the best English keepers there is and last season was voted as one of the best in the premiership.

There’s top goal scorer Rob Hulse who has been an instant success since moving from Crewe last summer scoring 13 goals with his pace and power.

However, I had to choose one man and after much looking at stats and analysing performances, I have come up with one man. Jason Koumas. The man is just sheer quality. Everything about his performances this season for both club and country have been amazing.

His most fantastic performance being the way he played against Manchester United scoring a fabulous goal. He is one of the main reasons West Brom are where they are and on his day he is the best player in the division. Why he is still in this division escapes me. Top quality player.

Last meeting

Palace 2-2 West Bromwich Albion

Saturday September 20 2003

Palace: Berthelin, Smith (Fleming, 68), Borrowdale, Popovic (Symons, 60), Mullins, Butterfield, Derry, Hughes, Johnson, Freedman (Routledge, 79), Shipperley

Subs not used: Watson, Cronin

Bookings: Derry, Mullins, Symons

Goals: Freedman 59, Johnson 90

West Bromwich Albion: Hoult, Haas, Gilchrist, Sigurdsson (O'Connor, 35), Gaardsoe, Johnson, Gregan, Koumas, N'Dour, Hulse (Dichio, 89), Hughes (Dobie, 63)

Subs not used: Clement, Murphy

Bookings: Gaardsoe, Gilchrist, Gregan, Hulse, Sigurdsson

Goals: Hulse 52, Koumas 89