Club News

STAT PACK: Baggies can depend on Dawson

Facts and figures on Saturday's trip to the KC Stadium (ko 3pm)

ALBION face a trip to Hull tomorrow (ko 3pm) as the players look to build on last week's victory at Swansea. Here the guys over at football statistics website WhoScored.com have previewed the upcoming clash.

Pepe Mel's reign as Baggies head coach has not seen results reflect the performances on show. Positive results against plenty of the top teams England have to offer were a common theme before last week a first victory under the new boss became a reality.

Once again, the side went behind but refused to lie down and this time they came from a goal down to record a stunning win courtesy of two unstoppable long-range strikes from Youssouf Mulumbu and Stéphane Sessegnon. 

Those players will rightly have been praised greatly for their eye-catching and ultimately match-winning goals, but it was a united display in which there were praiseworthy performances all over the pitch.

The defence were again impressive, restricting Swansea to very little after conceding early on, providing the platform from which to build attacks of their own and Craig Dawson was central to that, continuing to enhance his growing reputation as one of England's finest young centre-backs.

At just 23 years of age, he is one of very few - nine, to be precise - centre-backs currently under the age of 24 who have played in the Barclays Premier League this season. 

Of those, Dawson boasts the fourth-highest rating from WhoScored.com, having registered an average of 6.93. 

To put that into the context of the whole Premier League, it ranks him marginally below Manchester United's Jonny Evans this season.

Dawson settled into the back three Mel utilised with consummate ease, providing cover on the left side of defence that allowed Liam Ridgewell to get forward and exert an influence at the other end of the pitch. 

This weekend, Dawson will again be key, particularly given Jonas Olsson misses out through suspension.

Hull's performances this season have only developed a single statistically calculated strength on WhoScored: creating long shot opportunities. 

Dawson himself, boasts 'tackling' and 'blocking the ball' as 'very strong' and 'ball interception' as 'strong' on the stats website, so his input will be vital in attempting to thwart the attacking threat of the Tigers and limiting their shooting chances.

Dawson is still only young, so to expect too much of him at such a tender age would perhaps be unfair, but given his past performances, it is difficult not to foresee him putting in another display that defies his years.


*WhoScored.com is a unique website and one of the fastest growing in the sports industry, specialising in the in-depth analysis of detailed football data. Provided with unique stats, they compile and create comprehensive analysis on the major European divisions, including live match stats and player ratings. Follow @WhoScored and their editor-in-chief @alitweedale on Twitter.

All-time results record (League, FA Cup and League Cup)


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HOME
24
11
853823

+15

AWAY2466122539

-14

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Interesting facts

Hull currently boast the worst home form in the Barclays Premier League having lost four and won just one of their last six matches at the KC Stadium.

Albion have collected just as many points this season against teams in the top half of the table as they have against those in the bottom half – 14.

The Baggies travel to Humberside knowing they have found the net more on their travels this term (17 goals) than they have at home (16).

Albion have won three and drawn one of their last four away games against the Tigers, stretching back to 1992.

The Tigers have not slipped lower than their current position of 13th in the table since mid-September, when they occupied 15th spot.

The last two meetings between Hull and West Brom have finished all square, with the sides having never played out three successive league draws since their first encounter in 1905.

A total of five players could be coming up against their former clubs on Saturday, with Hull boasting ex-Albion quartet Curtis Davies, Shane Long, Robert Koren and Paul McShane while Baggies goalkeeper Boaz Myhill made close to 300 appearances for the Tigers between 2003 and 2010.

Last time out

HOME: Barclays Premier League, Saturday, December 21, 2013, Albion 1 (Vydra 86) Hull 1 (Livermore 28)
AWAY: Barclays Premier League, Saturday, January 31, 2009, Hull 2 (Mendy 44, Fagan 69) Albion 2 (Simpson 53, Brunt pen 73)

Form guide (last six league matches)
 
ALBION: DLDDLW 
HULL: DWLWLL

Last league match line-ups

ALBION (v Swansea – away W 1-2): Foster; McAuley, Olsson (c), Dawson; Reid, Morrison, Mulumbu, Dorrans (Gera 75), Ridgewell; Sessegnon (Thievy 79); Anichebe (O’Neil, 89). Subs not used: Myhill (gk), Vydra, Berahino, Sinclair.

HULL (v Manchester City - home L 0-2): McGregor, Rosenior (Fryatt 80), Figueroa (Aluko HT), Chester, Davies, Meyler (Boyd 58), Huddlestone, Livermore, Elmohamady, Jelavic, Long. Subs not used: Harper (gk), Bruce, Koren, Sagbo.
   

Hull team news

Steve Bruce has no fresh injury concerns but George Boyd will begin a three-match ban for spitting at Joe Hart in last week's game with Manchester City. 


Ref watch

Chris Foy will referee Saturday's game. The Merseyside official last oversaw the Baggies in their 3-2 home defeat by Manchester City in December. He has dished out 75 yellow and six red cards in 27 games this term.

Betting

Selected odds from Sky Bet:

Albion to win: 12/5

Hull to win: 6/5

Draw: 21/10

Victor Anichebe to score first: 7/1

Shane Long to score first: 11/2

If you fancy a flutter with the club's official online betting partner, click here.

Tickets

Tickets for this game are no longer on sale from The Hawthorns box office. 

Listen to live FREE match commentary with Dave Bowler and John Dunn

Can't get to the Hull game? Tune in to live FREE match commentary with Dave Bowler and John Dunn from 2pm. For details how to tune in, click here.

Follow our live matchday blog

Keep up to speed with all the matchday action and interact with fellow fans on our FREE blog on the Albion Wall from 2pm. 

So, if you can't make it to the game, click here to join in the fun, and post your comments?

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