Smash Bromwich Albion

You’ll have to excuse the leaves and clumps of wet moss littered about the place: I’ve been in hibernation. If it wasn’t possible to extract joy from something as grand as a World Cup Finals this summer, a mid-September round of Euro qualifiers was hardly going to get this inglorious blogsmith off his chair in raucous applause. Particularly when a good fair few of our lot partaking were delivered back with doctor’s notes and general bouts of ill-health. Dawson out for six weeks; Defoe out for three months. International football should be strangled at birth.

Moving on, hopefully in more buoyant mood. Proper football starts again tomorrow; with all eyes and roads tracing a line to The Hawthorns. West Brom- at present on the upward leg of their incessant ricocheting between Leagues- have endured mixed fortunes in their opening laps. A Day One nuking by Chelsea raised a few eyebrows- with an approach to defending set-pieces reminiscent of lifting up a log and watching woodlice scatter in all direction. Schoolboy stuff, as Alan Hansen might, and probably did, say. Since then they appear to have got their sh*t together as a narrow victory against The Mackems and a feisty- if not successful- trip to Anfield will testify. There’s certainly hope for them yet.

If England didn’t get us frothing at the mouth this week, then surely the sight of some new playthings running about the turf on Saturday might just. We’ve not seen Van der Vaart in one of the club’s numerous colours yet- just a handful of photos of him holding the shirt tantalisingly about his person. But, what with Defoe out and Keane’s popularity dwindling by the minute, there’s every chance the Dutchman could be shoe-horned into a five-man midfield to compensate. With either Pav or Crouch up top on their lonesome to spearhead the creative juggernaut behind them. In all likelihood, though, it’ll be VDV off the bench in the closing stages. Or sooner if things aren’t going to plan. The plan being, of course, walloping the living bejesuses out of them before half-time.

Predictions then, dear reader. On starting line-ups or probable outcome.

I’ll plum for a just about comfortable 2-0 win. With Sandro to score a last-minute nerve-settler on his debut.

COYS!