Premier League preview: West Brom v Blackburn

The battle to avoid relegation from the English Premier League shifts to The Hawthorns on Saturday when West Bromwich Albion host Blackburn.

Visitors Blackburn are without a victory from their last two matches, and find themselves inside the bottom three on the table.

They are level on 28 points with 17th-placed Queens Park Rangers, but sit beneath the west London club due to an inferior goal difference.

QPR defied expectations to beat Arsenal 2-1 at home last Saturday.

In reply, Blackburn proved unable to mount an upset of their own, going down 2-0 at the hands of champions Manchester United on Monday.

West Brom meanwhile had appeared relatively safe in mid-table earlier this year, but they are without a win in their last four matches, and have slid to within eight points of the drop zone.

It would take a nightmare run over the final weeks for Roy Hodgson’s team to get sucked into the relegation dogfight.

But they will need to register a victory soon to ease those fears. Their last outing ended in a 2-0 defeat away to Everton, and prior to that they went down 3-1 at home to Newcastle.

West Brom will be without key midfielder James Morrison due to a knee injury, while valuable utility player Steven Reid in also out (ankle).

Blackburn boss Steve Kean has a close to a full complement of players to choose from.

Veteran fullback Gael Givet is in doubt with a hamstring injury, while a hip injury continues to sideline long-term absentee Vince Grella.

Former Blackburn midfielder Keith Andrews, who joined West Brom in January, is likely to line-up against his old team.

The Republic of Ireland international will be concentrating on helping the home side gain a positive result, rather than proving a point to the club which let him go.

“I’ll be doing everything I can to get the result at the weekend,” he said.

“Facing former clubs is just one of those things you’ve got to do in football.

“The older you get the less it means and the more used to it you get.

“After playing for a few different clubs it’s not one of those things I worry about.

“It’s just another game.”