Saturday 26th November 2011, 3pm Kick-off. The Hawthorns.

It's a rare Saturday 3pm Saturday kick off for Tottenham Hotspur this week. Not that the game time should faze Harry Redknapp's dazzling Spurs side, on the face of it, not much could or should at the moment.

The manager whose team bonding exercise involved killing a pig... plus the week's daftest football quotes

DAFT QUOTES OF THE WEEK "England have players who can rattle anyone's feathers" – MICHAEL OWEN "Belgium's not a hotpot of international football" – ALAN BRAZIL "This strikes me very much as a friendly international" – GRAHAM TAYLOR, AT ENGLAND v SWEDEN "Nicky Shorey is the provider but Shane Long has made this all on his own" – CHRIS KAMARA "Has England's win pampered over the cracks?

By Alan Duffy

West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Bolton Wanderers Premier League 19th November 2011

Ireland striker Shane Long made a surprise comeback from injury to net the winning goal in an entertaining game at The Hawthorns.

West Brom come to Villa Park in a fixture we haven't lost since 1979. Our record from the last 10 times we played the Baggies in the league is six wins and four draws.

Roy Hodgson's side picked up their second win of the season last weekend, a 2-0 home victory against the hapless Wolves. We're trying to put a comprehensive loss at the hands of Man City behind us, Alex McLeish threatening to drop any players who put in lacklustre defensive displays.

By Alan Duffy

Brendan Rogers' Swansea City side play attractive football, but before yesterday, they had failed to make that positivie play count in the top tier.

However, against the Baggies, the Swans cantered to a 3-0 victory, courtesy of their first three goals of the new campaign.

By Chris Wright

Reigning champs Manchester United got their title defense off to a winning start with a 2-1 win over West Brom at the Hawthorns on Sunday.

Wayne Rooney opened the scoring, nutmegging a shot into the far corner in the 13th minute before Shane Long pulled one back for the Baggies on his debut with a relatively tame shot trundling past David De Gea and nestling in the inside side netting.

Aston Villa are taking 24 players to Hong Kong to compete in the Barclays Asia Trophy and the travelling party are en route right now. As the strength and depth of the squad is a hot topic at the moment, I thought it might be interesting to compare this pre-season tournament squad with the squads from the last couple of seasons.

West Bromwich Albion Travel Roster by Position

Goalkeeper (1): Boaz Myhill

Defenders (9): Marek Cech, Craig Dawson, Paul Downing, Pablo Ibáñez, Billy Jones, Gareth McAuley, Jonas Olsson, Nicky Shorey, Gabriel Tamas

Midfielders (10): Chris Brunt, Graham Dorrans, Sam Mantom, James Morrison, Youssouf Mulumbu, Steven Reid, Paul Scharner, Somen Tchoyi, Jerome Thomas, George Thorne

Forwards (6): Roman Bednar, Simon Cox, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Ishmael Miller, Peter Odemwingie, Chris Wood

West Bromwich Albion's travel roster for tomorrow night's game.

Looking at the positive side of Forest at the minute is a bit like looking into a Crystal Ball. There is the potential for some good signings with Giles Barnes, Wayne Routledge, Nicky Maynard, Nicky Shorey and Bolo Zendon all coming out of the rumour mill [...]

BIRMINGHAM, England — Carlos Vela saved Roy Hodgson from defeat in his first match as West Bromwich Albion manager as the Mexican striker's last-gasp goal earned a 1-1 draw against local rivals Wolves on Sunday. Hodgson was moments away from opening his reign at the Hawthorns in the worst possible manner as Albion trailed to [.