Palace v Albion preview

Crystal Palace v West Bromwich Albion

Selhurst Park

Kick off 3pm

Albion are hoping a stay at Nigel Mansell's Devon hotel will rev them up for tomorrow's trip to Crystal Palace.

The Baggies have prepared for the visit to South London with a two-day training camp at the Woodbury Park Hotel near Exeter.

And manager Tony Mowbray reckons the spell at the golf and country club, owned by the ex-Formula One world champion, will provide the best possible preparation for tomorrow after Wednesday's Championship win at Plymouth.

"When we looked at these two fixtures back-to-back it didn't make much sense to me to travel home for four hours through the night," said Mowbray.

"We would have got back on Thursday morning, probably given the players the day off because of the travelling, and then come in again on Friday ready to travel again down south.

"Instead we've stayed in the locality between Plymouth and London

"It's a nice hotel with nice leisure facilities, a pool, massage facilities.

"The players can relax, do a bit of training this morning before moving to a London base and getting ready for Saturday.

"The bottom line is that we're here for business and it's the professional thing to do to give ourselves the best opportunity to have the players in the right frame of mind for the weekend.

"Of course it helped that we won the game on Tuesday because it gives us an impetus to try to do it again."

The Baggies squad have spent the last two days recovering from their high-intensity clash with the Pilgrims and nursing some minor injuries.

Both full-backs, Carl Hoefkens and Paul Robinson, ended Wednesday evening battered and bruised but Mowbray is confident their rehabilitation at Woodbury Park will enable both to figure tomorrow.

"With the intensity of the game there were just some little knocks, but a bit of ice and a bit of rest will put them right," said Mowbray.

"Both Carl and 'Robbo' were struggling a bit at the end on Wednesday, but hopefully they will both be okay and be ready for the weekend."

The Baggies can expect, however, to be nursing a fresh collection of wounds tomorrow night after taking on a Palace side showing signs of being galvanised by new manager Neil Warnock.

Pre-Mowbray Albion teams have plenty of 'previous' with sides managed by Warnock, and the current Hawthorns boss has admitted there is no excuse for being taken by surprise by Warnock's new club.

So Mowbray is demanding more of the same from his side after they dismantled a highly motivated Plymouth side at Home Park.

"We've got a couple of reports on Palace, which I have had a look at, and they had a good victory on Tuesday night," said Mowbray.

"They are a Neil Warnock team and we know what to expect. They will be very hard-working. They have James Scowcroft and Clinton Morrison playing up front at the moment and they are a real handful.

"We know it's a tough game because they are fighting and scrapping to make sure they get themselves in a better position."