Match Preview
West Bromwich Albion v Fulham
Premier League Match Day 20 2021 The Hawthorns
Saturday 30th January 2021 KO: 15:00
Referee:
Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
Live on BBC One
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Relegation rivals West Bromwich Albion and Fulham face off at The Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon in a huge match at the bottom end of the Premier League.
The sides have won two games each all season and are at risk of being cut adrift should they fall to defeat this weekend.
Fulham are in a slightly better position, two points closer to Brighton and with a game in hand still to play, though no team is on a longer winless run in the division (nine matches).
However, the Cottagers look a stronger side now than they did in the first few months of the season, losing just two of their last eight league matches.
Too many games are being drawn, though, with Brighton the only team in the division to have drawn more times this campaign.
It came as little surprise, then, that those two teams played out a stalemate on Wednesday. Fulham were arguably second best at the Amex Stadium, though they could have snatched victory late on through chances for Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Three of the last four league meetings between West Brom and Fulham have also finished all square, meanwhile, with the Cottagers picking up the only victory in that sequence.
In fact, this is a fixture that the west London side tend to do well in, having gone eight without defeat against West Brom in the Premier League.
West Brom enter this relegation six-pointer on the back of a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City in midweek, making it five home league losses in a row.
The Baggies have shipped at least three goals in each of those defeats and have failed to score in the last four of them.
Indeed, each of the last 21 Premier League goals scored at The Hawthorns has been scored by the opposition - the longest run of goals at a stadium scored against a single team in the competition's history.
Sam Allardyce's men, whose only win in their last 10 outings overall in the league came against Wolverhampton Wanderers two weeks ago, are now seven points adrift of 17th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion.
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West Brom are winless in 10 league matches against Fulham.
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However, the Baggies have lost only one of their past nine home games against Fulham (W3, D5).
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Fulham's 2-1 triumph in 2013 is the only away victory in all 17 Premier League meetings.
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West Brom have 11 points after 20 matches. The only Premier League team to have 11 or fewer points at this stage and still avoid relegation was Albion themselves in 2004-05.
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They have won only two of their 20 league games this season (D5, L13).
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Albion have lost five straight top-flight home matches by an aggregate score of 22-1.
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The 22 league goals conceded since Sam Allardyce's first game in charge on 20 December is 10 more than any other side during that period.
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They have let in 29 goals in 10 Premier League home matches this campaign. Only Aston Villa, who let in 31 in 1935-36, have conceded more in their opening 10 home fixtures of a top-flight season.
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Allardyce has won six of his past seven home Premier League meetings with Fulham, drawing the other game.
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Fulham have won just two of their 19 Premier League matches, and none of the last nine.
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That nine-game winless run is the current joint-longest in the division, along with Newcastle.
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Fulham can keep consecutive Premier League away clean sheets for the first time since August 2013.
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They have scored only four goals in their past nine league fixtures.
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Fulham are unbeaten in all five games versus bottom-five teams. They have drawn four and beat West Brom in the reverse fixture.