West Bromwich Albion are in need of some Christmas cheer as they open their three-match festive schedule against title-chasing Manchester City at The Hawthorns on Boxing Day.
The Baggies (4-5-8) are in 15th place and just two points above the relegation zone after losing five of their last seven matches in the Premier League. They slumped to a 3-2 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday after throwing away a two-goal lead.
Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela both struck early at Loftus Road with their first Albion goals, before the Hoops hit back to claim a crucial victory with a hat trick from Charlie Austin.
West Brom manager Alan Irvine was in bullish mood ahead of the game against defending English champions City despite the loss at QPR.
"As normal we will look for any weaknesses that we can find," Irvine told his club's website. "Obviously teams like them don't have too many but hopefully they have a few that we might be able to exploit. And of course we will look at their strengths and see what we need to do to counteract them.
"I am still desperately disappointed (from Queens Park Rangers) and I need this game to move on completely but as far as the performance overall was concerned it was a really good performance. We deserved to win the game and to come away with absolutely nothing is extremely galling but we have to learn from the things that went wrong and make sure we build on the positives because there were plenty of them."
West Brom complete their festive programme with away matches at Stoke City on Sunday and West Ham United on New Year's Day.
Second-place City (12-3-2) have won their last six league matches and reduced Chelsea's lead at the top of the standings to just three points. They beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium last weekend even though they had no recognised in their starting lineup as Sergio Aguero (knee), Edin Dzeko (calf) and Stevan Jovetic (hamstring) were all out injured.
David Villa scored twice to give City a two-goal against the Eagles before fellow midfielder Yaya Toure added a third to a seal a well-deserved for Manuel Pellegrini's men.
Pellegrini remains confident the Citizens' challenge title will remain on track.
"I don't think about Chelsea," he told his club's website after the match against Palace. "The only important thing for our team was to win three more points and continuing playing in the way we are doing so far and believing every day that we can be involved in the fight for the title.
"We are in a good moment and no one believed a few months ago that we could continue in the Champions League and be able to fight for the title but we always trusted in what we do. I am so happy that once again this squad demonstrated why we won the title last year."
City end their holiday fixtures with home matches against Burnley on Sunday and Sunderland on Jan. 1.
West Brom skipper Chris Brunt returned to training this week after a hamstring injury, but striker Victor Anichebe remains doubtful with a groin problem.
City skipper Vincent Kompany is still sidelined with hamstring trouble, while fellow defender Gael Clichy has recovered from a foot injury. Aguero and Dzeko will both definitely miss the trip to The Hawthorns, while Jovetic will be assessed before the match.
The Citizens have won the last seven league matches against Albion.
The Baggies (4-5-8) are in 15th place and just two points above the relegation zone after losing five of their last seven matches in the Premier League. They slumped to a 3-2 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday after throwing away a two-goal lead.
Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela both struck early at Loftus Road with their first Albion goals, before the Hoops hit back to claim a crucial victory with a hat trick from Charlie Austin.
West Brom manager Alan Irvine was in bullish mood ahead of the game against defending English champions City despite the loss at QPR.
"As normal we will look for any weaknesses that we can find," Irvine told his club's website. "Obviously teams like them don't have too many but hopefully they have a few that we might be able to exploit. And of course we will look at their strengths and see what we need to do to counteract them.
"I am still desperately disappointed (from Queens Park Rangers) and I need this game to move on completely but as far as the performance overall was concerned it was a really good performance. We deserved to win the game and to come away with absolutely nothing is extremely galling but we have to learn from the things that went wrong and make sure we build on the positives because there were plenty of them."
West Brom complete their festive programme with away matches at Stoke City on Sunday and West Ham United on New Year's Day.
Second-place City (12-3-2) have won their last six league matches and reduced Chelsea's lead at the top of the standings to just three points. They beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium last weekend even though they had no recognised in their starting lineup as Sergio Aguero (knee), Edin Dzeko (calf) and Stevan Jovetic (hamstring) were all out injured.
David Villa scored twice to give City a two-goal against the Eagles before fellow midfielder Yaya Toure added a third to a seal a well-deserved for Manuel Pellegrini's men.
Pellegrini remains confident the Citizens' challenge title will remain on track.
"I don't think about Chelsea," he told his club's website after the match against Palace. "The only important thing for our team was to win three more points and continuing playing in the way we are doing so far and believing every day that we can be involved in the fight for the title.
"We are in a good moment and no one believed a few months ago that we could continue in the Champions League and be able to fight for the title but we always trusted in what we do. I am so happy that once again this squad demonstrated why we won the title last year."
City end their holiday fixtures with home matches against Burnley on Sunday and Sunderland on Jan. 1.
West Brom skipper Chris Brunt returned to training this week after a hamstring injury, but striker Victor Anichebe remains doubtful with a groin problem.
City skipper Vincent Kompany is still sidelined with hamstring trouble, while fellow defender Gael Clichy has recovered from a foot injury. Aguero and Dzeko will both definitely miss the trip to The Hawthorns, while Jovetic will be assessed before the match.
The Citizens have won the last seven league matches against Albion.
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