Liverpool v West Brom preview: Pressure is on, admits Alan Pardew
An away game at a top six club so soon into the tenure of a new head coach might be traditionally seen as a bit of a free hit.
Albion will be massive second-favourites at Anfield tonight for a number of reasons. Form, injuries and, let’s face it, quality – everything is stacked in Liverpool’s favour.
But Alan Pardew is refusing the ready-made excuses and doesn’t believe the Baggies – who slipped into the bottom three courtesy of Crystal Palace's victory on Tuesday night – travel north care-free.
It’s been 15 games without a win in all competitions now, and even though Pardew’s only been in charge of two of those, he’s aware of how heavy that run weighs on his players.
Fail to win tonight and they break an unwanted club record.
So the disparity between his team and Liverpool’s does not remove the pressure.
“Not for us, I’m afraid,” he said. “Every game between now and the end of the season is gold dust, you have to try to take something from every game.
“It might not be we can win nine games – we might not win eight games – but we can still stay in the division just by picking up points everywhere.
“We have to pick up points everywhere we can until we’ve got 40 points and can feel a bit more relaxed.”
So how do you beat a team who are scoring more than two goals a game on average this season?
Well Pardew, who has been desperately trying to improve Albion’s attacking play, reckons Liverpool’s defensive frailties can be exploited.
“It’s a place where you’ve got to have certain threats in the team and have to be able to cope with the fantastic forward line they have,” he said.
“I’m a big admirer of how Liverpool go about, they get at you, try to dominate you and they do that against the top teams.
“That’s their strength, with the ball with their attacking players, but they do have weaknesses. It’s whether you can exploit them.”
However, Liverpool have only conceded three league goals at Anfield so far and Pardew does not have his full arsenal available.
Matt Phillips may return from his hamstring problem, and that could be key in a game that is likely to see Albion pushed back and forced to threaten on the counter. At Swansea, the lack of pace in the starting line-up was all-too evident.
But the game is likely to come too soon for Nacer Chadli, who might just make the bench, while James Morrison remains sidelined with his Achilles injury.
Gareth Barry is also unavailable with his thigh problem.
“Missing Gareth Barry for this particular game is a bit of a blow because it’s well suited to him,” said Pardew, who is still confident he can keep this squad up.
“There’s definitely enough quality in the group but unfortunately all the group isn’t available to me,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of senior player missing and that’s having an impact.
"I don’t really want to moan about injuries, we’d rather focus on the players we have and get some confidence in them to play at Liverpool.
"There’s no reason why this team can, if everything falls our way, get a victory.”
Albion's key man - Ben Foster
The Baggies shot-stopper has happy memories of Anfield, where he’s previously been unbeatable. Considering the fire-power Jurgen Klopp could unleash, he may need to be again.
Liverpool dangerman - Mohamed Salah
Ahmed Hegazi’s good friend has scored more goals in the Premier League this season than anyone else. He’s also scored more than the whole of the Baggies team. The red-hot Egyptian has 13 in the league and 19 in all competitions. Albion’s only hope is that Hegazi knows a weakness, because nobody else has found one yet.
Likely line-ups
Albion (4-4-1-1): Foster, Nyom, Hegazi, Evans, Gibbs, Phillips, Yacob, Livermore, McClean, Rodriguez, Rondon.
Subs: Myhill, McAuley, Krychowiak, Burke, Field, Chadli, Robson-Kanu.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Mignolet, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Can, Salah, Firmino, Coutinho.
Subs: Karius, Gomez, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Solanke, Ings, Mane.
