Welcome back to the American Express Community Stadium for our second successive home match against Liverpool – this time for today’s fourth round tie in The Emirates FA Cup.
As before, we extend our welcome to Liverpool’s players, staff, officials and 4,500 supporters who have made the trip south for today’s game, which is being broadcast live on ITV1.
Liverpool’s last visit here, just over two weeks ago, will live long in the memory of Albion fans who enjoyed one of the club’s most impressive performances playing at the top level, against one of the biggest and most successful clubs in world football.
However, that performance, and our comprehensive 3-0 victory, will count for nothing today as we can be sure of facing a Liverpool side who will be determined to build on their third-round victory at Wolves and their home draw with Chelsea in the Premier League last time out.
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We followed our win against Liverpool with a challenging trip to Leicester City, who were keen to arrest a poor run of form at home. Having taken the lead with a superb Kaoru Mitoma effort, it took an 88th-minute equaliser from Evan Ferguson to secure a thoroughly deserved point.
The draw at Leicester saw us move up to sixth in the table with 31 points after 19 matches – our highest return in the Premier League at the halfway stage. We are, however, acutely aware that with 19 matches yet to be played, we still have much work to do.
While talking about our visit to Leicester, a very big thank you to over 3,200 Albion fans who made the trip to the East Midlands – and who also made themselves very well heard in the King Power Stadium!
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Family finances are always tight in January, and with a cost-of-living crisis to contend with too, this fantastic level of financial commitment and support for the team is truly appreciated by everyone here and makes a real difference to the team.
Looking ahead, we’re back at the Amex next week for our first match of the season against AFC Bournemouth and two weeks after that for our return fixture against Fulham, another of last season’s promoted clubs.
In between times, we make the relatively short journey to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace, also for the first time this season after our home fixture against our south London rivals and the away fixture at Bournemouth were both postponed due to rail strikes and The Queen’s passing.
On the subject of postponements, a number of you have enquired about what will happen to our match at Newcastle United on 25 February if the Magpies progress to the Carabao Cup Final.
In short, your tickets will be refunded and the Premier League will look to rearrange the fixture at the earliest possible opportunity.
Clearly, with matches against Palace and Bournemouth to be scheduled too, there’s every chance any rearranged trip to the North East would be midweek.
We know that the possibility of making our longest away trip of the season during midweek is a very long way from being ideal but, even with a later end to the season, the World Cup has severely limited the number of options open to the league for rearranging fixtures.
Off the pitch, and following the report by Tracey Crouch, the various football authorities are continuing to debate the terms of a ‘new deal for football’ – a key aim of which is to increase the amount of money distributed to the lower levels of the game.
The Crouch Report also recommended to Government the establishment of an Independent Regulator for Football (IREF), the likely scope of which we are expecting to see for the first time when a White Paper is published any time now.
For our part, we remain committed to ensuring our club is run as sustainably and as transparently as possible, to continue to engage with supporters (through a variety of means), and to protect the club’s heritage – all key aspects of Tracey Crouch’s wider recommendations.
Once the White Paper is published, and clubs have had time to digest its content and implications, we will take time to brief the Fan Advisory Board and to update all supporters.
Separately, and as we previously committed to do, we will shortly be consulting supporters on safe standing at the Amex. We are well aware that fans would welcome its introduction, while others are less keen on the idea. We’re keen to establish the current mood amongst fans.
Finally, details of our new season ticket packages will be released around the time of the home match with AFC Bournemouth, so please look out for the renewal timetable.
Enjoy today’s match!
* Today's matchday programme is available at the Amex priced £3.50. You can also purchase online here.