Against all odds

Terry Wills’ round-up of recent Hawthorns events.

Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool -two of the finest teams in the land, and judging by their performances against Albion they won’t be far away from picking up a trophy come season’s end.

Spurs were infinitely superior in the 1-1 Hawthorns draw but when Nacer Chadli gave us the lead I began to believe we were going to pull off a totally unexpected win. No such luck, the late equaliser although deserved left Baggies fans feeling that we’d lost a game we could have won. But for me the one point was a bonus. Credit to Tony Pulis’s 100% battlers. They gave their all to negate the Spurs superior attacking quality and as long as they do that we cannot complain.

On to Anfield where again the difference in technical ability was clear to see. They opened up a 2-0 lead but again Ben Foster thwarted Jurgen Klopps’s hopes of a very comprehensive win Indeed when Gareth McCauley pulled a goal back (naturally from a set piece!) there was a feeling that we could snatch a point. Certainly the all out attacking policy (and why can’t we see more of the same on a regular basis Tony?) gave the feeling that another shock was on the cards. The famous Kop Choir looked and sounded agitated at the thought that we could repeat last season’s 2-2 draw.

It wasn’t to be. A couple of late chances weren’t taken and we were left feeling that another unexpected result could have resulted. That would have been an injustice but again if Albion’s defence hadn’t made two mistakes who knows what might have happened?

This weeks Greed League visitors are current table toppers Manchester City, under the guidance of Pep Guardiola and odds on favourites to pocket the points. Apparently displeased at some of the City players performances he’s stressed that he’ll have no hesitation in showing them the door if they don’t do as he says. It was certainly a warning and not only for the Blue Moon players. Whatever Pulis’ chosen team, and that may be unchanged apart from Jonny Evans stepping in for the suspended Claudio Jacobin, I feel it will be a another backs to the wall game and for the third week in succession somehow managing a positive result would be a major achievement.

Sadly it has to be a City win unless defensive errors are kept to a minimum, Saloman Rondon receives more than zero support, Nacer Chadli can create/score a goal and if given an opportunity Chris Brunt can wave his magic left foot to show he’s ready for a starting place in the line up. We can keep but keep fingers firmly crossed.