EPL: Red Devils feast on wobbling Baggies

West Brom vs. Man U
Venue: The Hawthorns
Kick off: 3:15PM

Manchester United head to West Bromwich Albion this afternoon with the hope of keeping some pressure on Manchester City, who dismantled Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
The most worrying aspect of West Brom’s 16-match wait for a win is that they have brought in Alan Pardew during this ongoing club-record run and have yet to experience any sort of serious “new manager bounce”.
In fact, Albion have failed to even score since Pardew replaced Tony Pulis in The Hawthorns’ dugout, drawing two and losing one of their last three matches.
A battling goalless draw away to Liverpool last time out is a positive result to build on, however, coming fresh on the back of a hugely disappointing 1-0 loss to fellow strugglers Swansea City.
The Baggies last picked up all three points in a match in the opening month of the campaign, when talk of the time was of a top-half finish – not a relegation battle, which the West Midlanders have well and truly been dragged into in recent weeks.
Wednesday’s draw at Anfield did at least keep West Brom above the dotted line, with three teams now locked on 14 points in a very tight bottom half. So tight, in fact, that Pardew’s men could conceivably end the weekend 13th in the table or rock bottom, though some serious bad luck is required for the latter of those scenarios to come true.
Meanwhile, the Red Devils are seeking a third-consecutive away win, boasting an impressive tally of seven goals from their last two games away from Old Trafford against Watford and Arsenal.
Jose Mourinho knows that his side’s away form has not quite been up to scratch on the whole, though, certainly in comparison to runaway leaders Man City, having collected 14 points from the 24 on offer so far.
Unfortunately for United, they are now up against an even stronger outfit in City and their results will continue to be compared to those of their rivals, who have won a record 16 top-flight games on the spin and do not appear likely to be stopped anytime soon.

West Brom possible XI: Foster, Nyom, Hegazi, Evans, Gibbs, Livermore, Barry, Field, Robson-Kanu, Rondon, Rodriguez.
Man United possible XI: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Young, Matic, Herrera, Mata, Lingard, Rashford, Lukaku.