NB: Video on this article has been removed in accordance to international license restrictions.
By Greg Robertson
Hello and welcome to the English Premier League and The Hawthorns where we have Tottenham Hotspur visiting, trying to climb the EPL ladder and take three points from West Bromwich Albion.
With FA Cup matches done for the meantime, the focus shifts back to the Premier League and what could very well be the Gareth Bale show.
We bring you live streaming written commentary, video highlights (available at HALFTIME and then AFTER the final whistle) and all the action of the English Premier League 2012-13 season.
Kick off is not far away but for Tottenham fans we’ve wet the whistle with this solo Gareth Bale goal. Remember it? Yeah, etched proudly in the brain we expect (click on the video play icon).
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LIVE COMMENTARY… West Brom 0 v 1 Spurs
That's fulltime. 1-0 to Spurs. Video of the goal is now up.
90 mins: Well massive apologies - serious technical problems and we've just lost our systems. I've managed to jig a dodgy system up (it's 4am here, no one else in) and I'll at least be able to bring you the goal. Still 1-0 to Spurs. Bale injured. Took one in the face. Elbow in face.
80 mins: Just having a few technical difficulties I'm trying to fix. It's still 1-0.
73 mins: Dempsey's first touch takes it too wide and he has to angle a left foot shot back at goal. Foster pushes it around the corner.
75 mins: Sours coming in waves right now. Camped inside the top third. West Brom pulling all back to try and cope with a rampant side.
73 mins: Tough for West Brom right now as the 10 men are scrambling. Looked like a back pass from Morrison just then but it's let go.
70 mins: Bale now hits the side netting with the outside of his left boot. He's having a wee cracker.
67 mins: Screamer from Bale! What a shot. he has half a yard on the edge of the box and smashes it with his left peg. Foster just watched.
63 mins: Vertonghen from distance gets a deflection and it's wide for a corner. Another one that comes to nout. Two plays later and Dempsey hits one straight at Foster.
60 mins: bale gets the better of McAuley and Foster comes to the rescue of West brom with a top save. Bale plays it up a touch and stay down, but he's stretching things out now.
58 mins: Well no surprises it's now all Tottenham. They'd not using the width though. Get their head around that and this may be a cake walk. Things getting a bit tecthy out there.
46 mins: Second spell underway... Popov sent off for spitting! More to come. Well that was madness. West brom down to ten men. have added the link to the video.
HALFTIME: 0-0. A half bereft of highlights, but for what it's worth, they are NOW UP.
45+2 mins: West Broms WMD is a through ball for Lukaku to chase. Saddam had (apparently) a similar arsenal with the potential to do the same amount of damage. AKA, very little if not nothing at all. Other end of the pitch and it's Bale with a great run, checks onto his left and Foster tips it over. Great effort from both. Either side of Foster and Tottenham would have been in the lead.
45 mins: Three added minutes. The way this one is panning out that's like a dentist saying, "I'm going to take three minutes longer than normal to pull your molar. You okay with that?" Lukaku again chases one and Lloris does well to leave the area to boot it away.
44 mins: Lukaku gets away at the other end of the pitch and his effort is an absolute shocker. High. Wide. And not very pretty. Should have at least hit the target but it bobbled a touch and once Lukaku connected it headed north at a much greater rate of knots.
39 mins: Jermain Defoe's about to be subbed... good bye Brazil. Lewis Holtby on in his place.
37 mins: Defoe gets clipped and he looks like he's in trouble. Head in hands, rolling around... it was a stagger to start with. Replay, Defoe, poor touch... chases ball, clipped, stagger, stagger, roll, roll. To be honest it looked like Defoe hurt himself as he planted an insecure foot and it rolled. Well, not rolled, but more like a sharp roll that hurts like anything and causes you to jerk the foot back the other way for fear of it being twisted right off. He's off and getting it strapped now.
33 mins: Here we go. Defoe running the ball across the edge of the area and it's Yacob that 'blocks' him (chops would work too). One yard outside the box, right in front. Almost too close. Wall's just outside the six yard. Half of the Spurs side over the ball... but Bale is the likely, and blasts it into orbit.
28 mins: Plenty of corners going on and Lennon wins another for the visitor's. Again, poor delivery. Bends out before it comes back in.
25 mins: West Brom with some momentum and it's Dorrans again who's owning the middle of the park on attack. He does all the hard work then plays it into touch. Lloris having a cracker of a start tips a bending bird away that flew in from a corner. Gareth Bale on a 60 yard run hits the by-line and bends it back but his mates are well behind the play and the centre of the penalty box is empty.
22 mins:Ohhh Shane Long free in the penalty area - nice passage - but Lloris gets down to the shot. Great work in the sticks. Equally, top work from Dorrans who played Long in with a bending, half-long through ball with the outside of his right boot.
20 mins: Tottenham starting to dominate the possession and moving the ball at pace. Running West Brom around, Dembele lets fly as he glides past a confronting Yacob and the whistles of delight from the home crowd give indication of where that effort ended up.
17 mins: Defoe chases a speculator and Foster is decisive with a thundering right peg, away. Another corner doesn't get past the front six yard edge.
16 mins: There's a lot of real estate in that middle third... and with the West Brom pair pushing forward you'd expect Spurs to make good use of it. Bale away down the right and he looks up and just smacks it with his right. It's flicked away by a defending head for a corner. We then go from East to West for another. Some shirt pulling and West Brom breaks with a get out of jail free kick... well, half breaks, well, it breaks down would be more precise.
12 mins: Hmmm you feel as though Spurs are still with one foot in the changing shed. Walker to the edge of the area, an angled ball is almost very clever for Dempsey but it runs dead.
10 mins: Albion has started with plenty of purpose. Spurs edging into it though as you'd expect. Lukaka chases a through ball but Walker has too much speed so Lukaku bangs him in the back and Walker tastes Hawthorns turf.
8 mins: Dempsey on the back post for Spurs from a nice deft chip and should have done better. Heads down and wide.
6 mins: Dorrans with some fantastic on-the-ball trickery (even the Spurs bench bought the dummy) wins the first corner and it's Lloris with two fists pumping it away. Thirty seconds later Brunt feeds Lukaku and he unleashes a low worm-burner that's easily dealt with.
4 mins: Long bursts through the middle, running onto the pill, first touch a little in front and Lloris is quick to seize the chance and come from his line, forcing the West Brom man to push it wide - well wide. That was close to being the first one. Bit of ball watching at the back from the Tottenham side.
3 mins: Dawson lunges in and catches James Morrison. Bit of aerial ping pong.... Spurs settling it down. Foot on it. Bales showing he drifts better than a Japanese import. Full body kit. He too, has some wheels.
1 min: Spurswith the ball and they pump it forward, turn it over and West Brom are caught offside after 25 seconds.
Here we go... we've kicked off...
MC (ref) for the match will be MC (Mark Clattenburg). Lukaku has done his traditional warm up with palms arms in prayer and then knees up in leg pumps.
Spurs unbeaten in eight... all in all, picking that may soon be nine... Sunday lunchtime in the UK and there's a 'brisk' wind blowing through The Hawthorns (which happens to be a 25,500 sellout).
Here are the official teams…
West Brom: Foster; Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Popov; Dorrans, Yacob, Morrison, Brunt; Long, Lukaku. Subs: Myhill, Ridgewell, Thomas, Jones, Rosenberg, Fortune, Tamas.
Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Dembele, Parker, Lennon, Bale, Dempsey, Defoe. Subs: Friedel, Gallas, Naughton, Huddlestone, Livermore, Sigurdsson, Holtby
Looking forward to this one I tell you football fans... I have this feeling Bale may bag a couple. If the class of his latest finish is anything to go by, a couple my be doing him an injustice. His solo effort of late was worth three.
Kick off at half the hour… wherever you are in the world.
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Teams
West Brom (from): Foster, Myhill, Daniels, Reid, Jones, Olsson, McAuley, Tamas, Popov, Ridgewell, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Yacob, Brunt, Morrison, Thomas, Long, Lukaku, Fortune, Rosenberg, El Ghanassy, Nabi.
Tottenham (from): Lloris, Friedel, Walker, Naughton, Dawson, Gallas, Vertonghen, Caulker, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Sigurdsson, Livermore, Dempsey, Parker, Dembele, Huddlestone, Holtby, Bentley, Bale, Defoe, Kane.
Pregame banter
West Bromwich Albion Steve Clarke has not mixed his words. The head coach wants his players to come together, to “rally around”, as the middle of the table side faces fifth placed Tottenham Hotspur.
And they’ll have to do that without striker Peter Odemwingie after his hopes of a proposed move to Queens Park Rangers failed to materialise.
The Nigerian international was not considered for the match at Everton after his new-born son was readmitted to hospital, but misses out now due to the fall-out from his attempt to move to Loftus Road.
Youssouf Mulumbu is available after returning to The Hawthorns from Africa Cup of Nations duty following DR Congo's exit, but fellow midfielder George Thorne is ruled out with a knee injury.
Meanwhile Tottenham have a chance to leapfrog Everton and Arsenal into fourth place in the EPL. Take three points at The Hawthorns today and they’ll do just that, and still have a game in hand – potential to take the Andre Villas-Boas side up a further notch into third ahead of Chelsea.
"The mood in the camp is of commitment and wanting to get back to winning ways,” says Spurs’ manager.
The side has been given the added bonus that striker Jermain Defoe has been passed fit after overcoming his niggling pelvic injury as has midfielder Tom Huddlestone (leg).
But striker Emmanuel Adebayor (Africa Cup of Nations), defender Younes Kaboul (knee) and midfielder Sandro (knee) are all out.
Striker Harry Kane returns to the squad following his recall from a loan spell at Norwich City while midfielder Lewis Holtby could make his full debut following his transfer from Schalke.
3 News
source: newshub archive
