Kealan Hughes

Sat 13 March 2021 12:06, UK

This is part of a regular series from our panel of Super Fans on upcoming on West Brom News. This week we spoke to Crystal Palace fan Billy Meyers who writes for HITC.

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West Brom travel to Selhurst Park on Saturday and will be hoping for revenge against Crystal Palace after the previous encounter ended in a 5-1 defeat.

It was an embarrassing day at The Hawthorns considering the Eagles are not known for their attacking prowess.

However, the Albion defence has improved significantly since that game in December, with just two goals conceded in our last five games.

It promises to be a tight affair, therefore, as Palace fan Billy does not expect his team to pull up any trees.

What is the lastest Palace team news Billy? 

Well, West Brom have been boosted somewhat, as there are quite a few injuries at Selhurst Park.

Tyrick Mitchell, Mamadou Sakho, James Tomkins and a familiar face for Baggies fans in Nathan Ferguson are all missing.

Nathaniel Clyne, James McArthur and James McCarthy also haven’t yet recovered, as revealed on Crystal Palace’s official website.

Where can Palace hurt West Brom?

Watching Palace this season has been like watching an attack vs defence drill, with the Eagles usually partaking in the latter activity.

In that respect, it’s hard to say where we can hurt West Brom.

I would suggest flick-ons from Christian Benteke into Wilfried Zaha’s path could be a potential danger for the Baggies – the two did run riot at the Hawthorns with two goals each, after all.

Where do you see West Brom’s biggest strengths and weaknesses?

I really like the look of Matheus Pereira and Mbaye Diagne – I think those two will cause Roy Hodgson a headache, and I consider the threat they pose to be a huge strength of West Brom’s.

In terms of weakness, the backline is shocking – uncharacteristically for an Allardyce side.

West Brom are just one of two teams who have conceded more than Palace’s 47 concession this term, so the defence is clearly a big weakness.

If you could take any player from West Brom who would it be?

As said, I love the look of Pereira, he’s just what Palace are lacking so I think we should sign him.

Hodgson doesn’t really have a left-footed wide man to cut in from the right who can mirror the option Ebere Eze and Zaha offers him from the left, aside from Andros Townsend.

In that respect, I think the Brazilian is the final piece of our attacking puzzle – a quartet of Eze, Zaha, Benteke and Pereira is simply mouthwatering.

What’s your score prediction for the game and why?

I’m going to go with a 1-0 win for West Brom, purely down to motivation purposes. Palace are pretty much safe and are playing like they know that, whereas the Baggies still have a glimmer of hope in the survival race.

Finally, looking at Albion’s season overall, do you think Big Sam would have had a better shot at avoiding relegation if he arrived sooner?

Having briefly had Sam Allardyce as manager in SE25, I can confidently say he’s a man who needs time to implement his ideas.

You may remember him being 4-0 down to Sunderland at Selhurst Park in one of his first few games – at half-time no less – as evidence of him being a slow starter.

However, things did pick up, so I do believe West Brom would be in a better position had they made the call earlier.

It is always a boost to see an opposition fan tipping West Brom for a win.

He is right to suggest Palace have little to play for, and indeed their recent form is evidence of that.

They have won just once in six games, and that victory came against fierce rivals Brighton so there was added motivation to get the win.

Pereira is clearly highly-rated by Billy and it is time he got back to best. Diagne also needs to improve on his goalscoring output after scoring once in eight games since signing.

We share Billy’s belief in the Baggies and as long as we keep things tight at the back we have a great chance to nick a win.

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