Kickoff from the Hawthorns at 1500 GMT, 10:00am EST.
Ways to Watch:
Match live on Fox Soccer Plus in the US.
Liverpool:
Reina
Carragher Skrtel Agger Johnson
Lucas Spearing
Kuyt Meireles
Carroll Suarez
Bench: Gulacsi, Cole, Kyrgiakos, Maxi, Wilson, Ngog, Poulsen
As expected, Steven Gerrard misses out, and Kenny Dalglish selects the same side that faced Sunderland two weeks ago. Hopefully we see a bit more from Raul Meireles, who was relatively anonymous last time out; he didn't play poorly, but it's clear that he's much more comfortable and influential when he's able to get through the middle more often. Excited to see Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez in the side again, as well as Daniel Agger, and I'm thinking this is far and away the best eleven given who's available. More than anything, though, it's great to see Liverpool back in action.
West Brom:
Carson
Reid Meite Olsson Shorey
Mulumbu Scharner
Brunt Cox Thomas
Odemwingie
Bench: Myhill, Cech, Ibanez, Vela, Zuiverloon, Fortuné, Jara.
In the run-up:
Hey, it's just like old times, spending the run-up reading cringeworthy things that Roy Hodgson's been saying. Does it qualify as nostalgia if the only thing it makes you want to do is strangle yourself?
“The fans want him to have the job. He has the backing of the fans, and the fans are very, very important in football. If they don’t give him the job now, it will be very difficult for the next man who gets it, because the fans want him to have it.
“I knew it from the day I walked into the club, because Kenny had made it clear he wanted the job. The job was there, I was offered it, I knew the risk, the potential problems that could arise, and I don’t harbour any regrets or any resentment. It is difficult to compete with icons. I went to the right club, but perhaps I didn’t arrive at the right time. Kenny made it clear he wanted the job, but the people who were making the decisions at that time decided to go for me.
"It left Kenny in a difficult position because he wanted the job, and when things didn’t go well, having him in the background wasn’t easy. It wouldn’t have been easy for any coach.”
Okay, so maybe not that cringeworthy, probably just something to strangle yourself to get high over. And to his credit, he can at least acknowledge in some roundabout way that Kenny Dalglish is deserving of the post, or at least deserving of the fans' respect. So it's them who want Dalglish in the manager's role permanently, and not Roy, but he's not resentful, just aware that Dalglish stalked him like wild game. And actually, it was quite big of Roy to accept the manager's post at Liverpool under such difficult circumstances, and he did very admirably given the.....ohmygoditshappeningagain