FA Cup: Baggies, Saints face off at Hawthorns 

West Brom vs Southampton
Venue: The Hawthorn
Kick off: 4PM

West Brom’s preparations for this afternoon’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Southampton have been overshadowed by “an incident” during the club’s training trip to Spain this week.
The Baggies have announced they are investigating after four senior players broke a curfew imposed on them – and Albion boss Alan Pardew admitted in his pre-match press conference the episode is “not ideal”.
The quartet – later revealed as Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill – will be “subject to the full rigours of our internal disciplinary procedures” but they will be available for selection against the Saints, although Livermore is injured.
It has been a turbulent week for West Brom – who are bottom of the Premier League and seven points adrift of safety – with chairman John Williams and chief executive Martin Goodman sacked the day after the 3-0 defeat by Chelsea.
West Brom manager Alan Pardew revealed he cannot be sure of his position after major sackings at the club.
Pardew will demand a response from his players after his attempts at boosting morale in Barcelona back-fired, but he insists he is not regretting his decision to replace Tony Pulis as manager in November.
“No regrets [about taking the job] because it’s a great club,” he said. “It’s been a tough week for us, for me, and for the fans. It will be a tough game for Southampton because we’re in the mood for a game I can tell you.”
Pardew was in charge of the Saints between July 2009 and August 2010, but was humbled on home soil by his former employers when they ran out 3-2 winners at The Hawthorns earlier this month.
Boss Mauricio Pellegrino believes Southampton must go all out for victory this afternoon, even though Premier League survival remains the clear overall priority.
“We have to understand now when you’ve got this possibility, the cup is an amazing thing,” said Pellegrino.
“In the recent two weeks we’ve had a game against them, but I imagine both teams will try to adjust to try to improve. And when you’ve got good knowledge about the opponent it will be really tight.
“We want to move forward to the next round. Also it can help us to improve as a team, to introduce some players that didn’t play too much in the recent game. It can help us to believe more in our improvements since January.
“For those aspects it will be important to play seriously, try to win the game, try to do our best, and both teams have got nothing to lose.
“You have to go forward because it’s like a final. We’ve got this possibility and it’s amazing.”