--- title: "View from the Opposition: West Brom" canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/first-team/view-from-the-opposition-west-brom-2/" type: "post" language: "en-GB" author: "Ben Smith" section: "First Team" published: "2015-04-24T08:48:57Z" modified: "2015-04-24T08:48:57Z" --- # View from the Opposition: West Brom Hopes of silverware may be over, but Liverpool still have a slim chance of a place in the top four, so they mustn’t still be feeling sorry for themselves when they turn up at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. Brendan Rodgers’ men beat the Baggies 2-1 at Anfield back in October, but the two sides shared the spoils when they met at The Hawthorns last season. Ahead of Saturday’s game, I posed some questions to Alex Newton, Editor of *The Baggies’ Way*. **Your victory at Crystal Palace last Saturday leaves you on 36 points. Is that Premier League survival all but guaranteed now?** You’d certainly hope so. Last weekend was a huge result for us, as we have to play four of the current top five in our last five games of the season. Being eight points clear should see us safe, but my mind will not relax until it’s mathematically impossible for us to go down. It would be one of the biggest shocks in the clubs history if we went down from this position, so hopefully we’ll embark on our sixth straight Premier League season. **Having seen Liverpool’s below-par display against Aston Villa last weekend, does that give you extra confidence that you can get a result?** It’s a double edged sword in reality. Liverpool will be downbeat especially with the importance of the game last weekend but will be looking to bounce back quickly. Liverpool could still grab fourth if Manchester City slip up and I’m sure Brendan Rodgers will be drilling that into his players. On the other hand, after a good result for us last week I think we go into this game with a lot more confidence now. Hopefully we set up right to have a good go at your sometimes questionable defending. **Do you think you’ll line up with two up front as you did at Palace? Or will you look to dominate the midfield?** I’d be very surprised if we didn’t. Victor Anichebe and Saido Berahino could cause Liverpool a lot of problems on Saturday and I think it will be those two that will start, as Brown Ideye has just come back from a knock. Anichebe is hard to deal with and your centre-backs have had a few shockers this season to say the least. Anichebe will be the target man with Berahino running between the lines which could cause players such as Dejan Lovren big problems. The midfield will probably be the same as last week with Claudio Yacob and Darren Fletcher holding while Craig Gardner and James Morrison provide the width. **Jordan Henderson was the match winner when we met at Anfield earlier in the season. He has also just signed a new contract at Anfield this week. Do you consider him one of Liverpool’s main assets? (Identify any others, too)** If I had control at Liverpool I’d currently build the team around three players. Henderson could be your next Steven Gerrard, although he still has a long way to go yet but he has a great attitude and work rate. You could easily see him becoming the next Kop legend especially after signing his new long-term contract. Philippe Coutinho would be the next choice. Raheem Sterling will more than likely go and I think Coutinho has really stepped up to the mark and improved his game this season. His finishing has got a lot better and he’s done it against big teams and in important matches too. The final player would be Emre Can. I have loved watching him play this season and his versatility could be vital over the coming years at Liverpool. At just 21 he has almost two decades ahead of him and he’s an unreal talent already picking up 45 youth caps for Germany. I think if Liverpool integrate the team around these three they will not be going far wrong. **How important is the Tony Pulis factor? Liverpool don’t have a great record against his sides away from home.** The best way to sum up the Tony Pulis factor is ‘ugly but effective’. His teams can be very boring to watch at times but they grind results out. The Palace victory from last weekend is a great example of that, Palace dominated the match but we still managed to keep a clean sheet and score two. He knows how to set up his team in each match and seems to thrive when the bigger teams are in town. Top teams like to play free-flowing football but Pulis sucks all the life out of the game to stop them doing that, which can make for a drab game but a good result which is something Albion fans can’t be complaining about right now. **Obviously he won’t be eligible for Saturday’s fixture, but how do you think Andre Wisdom has done on loan at The Hawthorns this season?** A tale of two halves is the best way to sum up Wisdom’s Albion season. He started every game in the league (except Liverpool away) up until our 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in late January and since then he hasn’t done a thing bar 19 minutes against Palace last weekend. He started really well and looked composed defensively while also helping out going forward. Pulis just doesn’t seem to like him, which is a shame because he never really did anything wrong. Is he Liverpool starting quality? Probably not, but he’d be a great squad player due to him being able to play anywhere across the defence. **Saido Berahino continues to be linked with a move to Merseyside. Will he be out to prove a point this weekend? And do you think he’ll still be a Baggies player next season?** I doubt he’ll be thinking he has a point to prove but I’d be very surprised if we saw him in an Albion shirt next season. The club are in a good position financially but there’s no way we could refuse an offer of over £15 million for Saido. He’s a quality youngster and would be Albion’s main guy for years to come but no player is bigger or better than the club. Part of me worries about his off the field antics which almost draws a likeness to Mario Balotelli with him constantly being in the media. I’d like to think he could make the step up to a bigger team but he needs to mature as a person as well as a player. **Which West Brom player(s) will cause Liverpool problems on Saturday?** James Morrison is in great form at the moment and plays really well when he’s in a purple patch but I’m going to go for Victor Anichebe. He likes to bully defenders and give them a rough 90 minutes, something which Lovren will not be looking forward to. If you play with a back three like you have for most the season, two of those will have to focus on Big Vic. This brings other people into the game and leaves you short at the back. I really see the battle between our strikers and your defenders being pivotal in the result this weekend. **And finally, a score prediction, and the scorers…** Expect a tight match. I’ll go for a 1-1 draw with Anichebe and Coutinho scoring.