West Brom v Liverpool preview: Baggies on the brink of relegation

Only victory will do for West Brom as they host Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime, live on Sky Sports Premier League.

West Brom are nine points from safety and will be relegated if they lose and Swansea avoid defeat at Man City on Super Sunday. The Baggies will also be relegated this weekend if they draw and Palace get a draw at Watford and Swansea win at City.

Although bottom-of-the-table Baggies' relegation could be confirmed, caretaker coach Darren Moore is trying to remain upbeat.

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"We can't change what has happened before," he said. "We are just looking to the future now and the remaining games. I was delighted for Jay (Rodriguez) to score the winner at Old Trafford in what had been a difficult week.

"The biggest thing that fills me with joy is how everyone at the club has pulled together and supported me in this role. It's been great."

Liverpool, who are preparing to face Roma in midweek in the Champions League, already have scored 24 more goals this season (121) than they did during the whole of last season (97). However, Jurgen Klopp's men were knocked out of the FA Cup by the Baggies at Anfield earlier this season.

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Team news

Defender Jonny Evans and forward Hal Robson-Kanu are back available for West Brom.

Evans has been struggling with a knee injury of late, while Robson-Kanu suffered concussion earlier this month, but both are in contention for the Saturday lunchtime clash.

Defender Nathaniel Clyne will miss Liverpool's trip to West Brom with a minor muscle problem.

The England international, who has been absent for most of the season with a back injury, sat out last Saturday's win over Bournemouth and will be missing again this weekend.

Fellow defenders Dejan Lovren and Joe Gomez returned to training this week after injury.

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Opta stats

After losing their first nine Premier League meetings with Liverpool by an aggregate score of 0-25, West Brom have lost just five of the subsequent 14 (W4 D5 L5).

However, West Brom did win their last meeting of any kind with Liverpool, winning 3-2 in an FA Cup fourth-round tie at Anfield in January.

West Brom have failed to score in seven of their 11 Premier League home games against Liverpool, but have picked up at least a point every time they've found the net (W2 D2 L0 when scoring, D1 L6 when not).

Moore has already equalled Alan Pardew's total Premier League wins (one in 18 games) as West Brom manager in just his second game as boss (1).

Mohamed Salah (30) is just one goal away from equalling Luis Suarez's 31-goal season in 2013/14 - the most by a Liverpool player in a single Premier League campaign.

Roberto Firmino has been directly involved in four goals in his last four games against West Brom in all competitions (two goals, two assists), including both scoring and assisting in his side's 3-2 defeat the last time the sides met.

Merson's prediction

A hard game this one - it was a great result for West Brom the other day. Liverpool are all-but assured of the top four, and you've got to give yourself a chance against Roma. I would be shocked if Liverpool played a strong team against West Brom.

We saw what happened when Man City played a strong side against Everton, and then they got blown away by Liverpool. Lesson learned - I think Jurgen Klopp has to play a lesser team, which is a shame on Mohamed Salah.

To win the Golden Boot he needs to play. I'd expect Harry Kane to score at least four in four, and he's four behind, so Salah has to score at least two more in my opinion, though I don't know how many more games he's going to play. But they've got the semi-finals of the Champions League coming up and it's a team game - otherwise you play snooker or golf.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (7-1 with Sky Bet)

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