Albion's unlikely victory at the JJB Stadium last Sunday will be for nought if they fail to follow it up with three points against bottom club, Sunderland this weekend. The Black Cats are rooted to the bottom of the Premiership some ten points behind 19th-placed Birmingham City and a massive sixteen points adrift of the safety zone.

They did manage to record a home victory earlier this month when the beat Conference side Northwich Victoria in the FA Cup, but they have still only recorded one Premiership victory this season at the Riverside back in September and have picked up just one point from their last thirteen Premiership games.

Nonetheless, the Baggies are one of only four sides they have taken points off this season, and they will feel that the game at the Stadium of Light is one they should have won after Zoltan Gera grabbed an injury time equaliser. Moreover, they performed well against runaway leaders Chelsea at home last weekend and they know that Albion are a side they need to beat if they are to have any chance of escaping the drop.

I don't expect the match to be at all easy for the home side, and their current injury problems will not help the cause one bit. At the time of writing, it's unclear who will be available for the game, but Kanu, Gera and Gaardsoe are definitely sidelined through injury and Kamara is away at the African Cup of Nations. It is hoped that Horsfield, Watson, Robinson and Campbell will be able to return to the side, but they are still awaiting a clean bill of health. Darren Moore will be available having been suspended for the match on Tuesday evening, but the very good news is that Neil Clement has recovered from his head injury and will be fit to start on Saturday.

If you're looking for omens, Albion have won every 5.15pm Premiership game at the Hawthorns (two last season, one this) and their only away fixture at that time was the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last May, so there's a good one. For good measure, the bad one is that Albion haven't beaten Sunderland at the Hawthorns for 12 years.

The current Sunderland side bears little resemblance to the one that visited the Hawthorns for the 0-0 draw in Division One two seasons ago. Gary Breen and Julio Arca are the only survivors from that side, but there are one or two familiar names in the side.

Former Ipswich goalkeeper, Kelvin Davis, and ex-Blackburn striker Jon Stead were both hot prospects a couple of years ago but have had a mixed time of it this season. McCarthy brought in two good young players on loan in Liverpool's Anthony Le Tallec and Arsenal's Justin Hoyte, but the names that have made the headlines for than most at Sunderland are Liam Lawrence and Dean Whitehead.

Lawrence joined in 2004 from Mansfield and has managed three goals in thirteen starts from midfield including the two openers from Sunderland's last two league games. Whitehead also moved to the North East in 2004 from Oxford, and has notched four goals from 22 games making him joint top scorer with Le Tallec. That statistic highlights Sunderland's main problem this season - scoring goals. They have scored just 16 in their 21 Premiership games while letting in 40.

Allowing for injuries, my starting line-up would be as follows:

Kuszczak; Albrechtsen, C Davies, Clement, Robinson; Chaplow, Inamoto, Wallwork, Greening; Ellington, Campbell.

Subs: Kirkland, Watson/Hodgkiss, Carter, Horsfield/R Davies, Nicholson.

If Albion can get an early goal, that will hopefully dent any confidence Sunderland may have gained from their last two performances. Three points is a must.



Jon Want, 19th January 2006.