Express & Star

West Brom v Huddersfield: It’s now or never for Albion and Alan Pardew

The majority of Albion’s matches against relegation rivals this season billed as must-wins have ended in failure.

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An Albion defeat could prove terminal for Alan Pardew as boss

But the Baggies are now at the point where they must actually win this six-pointer if they are going to keep their slim survival hopes alive.

Losing at home to Huddersfield and falling 10 points behind the Terriers will leave too much ground to make up, and confidence too low.

“The term must-win is a bit of an irritant,” said head coach Alan Pardew. “But we know how important it is. Nothing’s over until it’s over. The fat lady isn’t in the room yet.”

She may not be in the room, but she’s definitely called a taxi to take her there.

It was the reverse leg of this fixture, when Albion lost 1-0, that all-but ended Tony Pulis’s reign in the hot-seat. A similarly tepid defeat could spell the beginning of the end for Pardew too.

He’s acutely aware of his own perilous position after the controversial events in Barcelona, and he knows the only way to prove to fans that he and his players are fit for purpose is by winning.

“At the end of the day, we’re paid a lot of money to play professional football, and we’re paid to play hard and give a service to our fans,” he said. “We need to deliver this weekend.

“Whatever way it comes we need a victory.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t do that against Southampton, although we had a good push towards the end and finished that game strongly.

“There are question marks that are thrown against us about how professional and not together we are that this kind of incident throws up in the air, and we haven’t really got a defence until we win.

“But there is confidence in the group. It wasn’t so long ago that we beat Liverpool at Liverpool, and deserved to win.

“We’ve got to get back to that, and we’ve got the same players available this time around.”

Only Daniel Sturridge, James Morrison and Nacer Chadli are unavailable tomorrow with Kieran Gibbs returning from illness and Jake Livermore back from a hamstring injury.

Pardew will be putting out a team gunning for the win.

“We have to understand that other teams will be happy with draws, and we need to keep pushing,” he said. “I promise our fans we’re not going to settle for a draw anywhere, we’re going to have to push, even against the best teams.

“Huddersfield are a side I know fairly well because I’ve watched them two or three times this season and I have an ex-staff member there.

“I’m familiar with how they play, they pressure the opposition, they’re not going to make it easy for us.

“We’re not going to be able to roll them over and win comfortably, it’s going to be very tight and ferocious affair. It’s every bit as important to them of course.

“We know at the end of the game if we don’t win it’s going to be a difficult week again for us.

“We don’t want a difficult week. No-one wants to play and work like this. We want to smile, come into work and have a buzz about us.”

Albion's key man - Jonny Evans

The Baggies have shipped far too many goals recently, and with armband restored, Jonny Evans has to start proving to fans he cares about the club’s plight. Gibbs' return will allow him to move back to central defence where he can have a bigger impact on the outcome.

Huddersfield's danger man - Rajiv Van La Parra

The former Wolves winger was superb against Albion in the reverse fixture, and stunned the Baggies with a 25-yard stunner. Like most wide-men, he can be inconsistent, but he has two goals in his last three games in all competitions. Capable of swapping flanks, Albion’s full-backs will need to watch him.

Memory Lane

In November 1998, Lee Hughes’s second hat-trick of the month at The Hawthorns downed the Terriers 3-1. His triple included two penalties and he scored against Huddersfield again a month later.

Likely line-ups

Albion (4-4-2): Foster, Dawson, Evans (c), Hegazi, Gibbs, Phillips, Barry, Krychowiak, McClean, Rodriguez, Rondon.

Subs: Myhill, Nyom, McAuley, Yacob, Livermore, Brunt, Burke.

Huddersfield: 4-2-3-1: Lossl, Malone, Schindler, Jorgensen, Hadergjonaj, Hogg, Billing, Van La Parra, Pritchard, Ince, Mounie.

Subs: Coleman, Smith, Lowe, Kongolo, Williams, Quaner, Depoitre.