West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa: Premier League – live!

46 min “Neutral Wolves fan here,” emails Kevin Porter, “enjoying a West Midlands derby without Wolves involved. In the end VAR is still opinion, is it not? Do let’s trash it and put the referee on the pitch assigned to adjudicate the match back in control.

Why does the TV coverage get to hear the VAR interaction? Insanity.

Neither Livermore nor Hause’s offences were really a red in my opinion. Livermore did go ‘over the ball’, but not in order to foul, but to gather in the ball.”

I’d love to see the back of VAR, but I don’t think it was at fault here, Livermore was. He had a chance to pull out of the challenge and decided to go for it even once he knew the ball was gone and he was high. Even if it wasn’t on purpose, the law doesn’t need it to be, and players need protecting from what he did, in mine.

“Worst ever Brummie accent and I’ll brook no argument,” tweets Alex Fresco. Elsie Tanner’s grandson in The Street…”

Unfortunately I’m struggling to find footage of him, but here’s his mam.

“This short video is two of the sweetest people speaking in the Dudley Black Country accent,” returns Philip West. “I wonder if many will understand a word – fortunately it’s ‘Brummie squared’ so I can.”

“Barry from AWP was from Wolver’ampton!” chides Francis Lee (and many others). “How dare Thestellarosa! (and Daniel). Those yamyams speak completely differently to Brummies.”

Sorry!

Villa have been pretty good, and will reckon themselves good for another goal or two. At this point, West Brom will just want to keep it social.

45 min “Having just cancelled my Christmas trip back home to my family in Birmingham thanks to London being put in tier 4,” emails Angus Wood, “I’m really holding out for a Villa win tonight to cheer me up. On the subject of the Brummie accent, I’m used to hearing it butchered in film and TV shows. But one of the best I’ve ever heard is Matthew Macfayden in that one episode of Ashes to Ashes he was in. There was no reason the character had to be from Birmingham either, he just went ahead and did it anyway. Masterful.”

Another fine selection. He actually delivered one of my favourite lines in recent years: “You can’t make a Tomlette without breaking some Greggs.”

43 min Grealish runs at Sawyers, who stands up well and wins the tackle, but Luiz is waiting to dispossess him and that’s a major difference between the teams: not only do Villa have better individuals, they also have partnerships all over the pitch.

41 min “Tim Spall’s Barry from AWP,” says @TheStellaRosa of Brummie accents.

That is a tremendous call.

39 min Hello! Hause goes looking for ball that isn’t there and winds up planting studs on Diangana’s shin. He didn’t mean to do it, but Diangan had touched off before he set off, and though the ref books him, VAR have a look at an upgrade. I can see both sides, so it’s probably the right call to leave it, which we do.

38 min Conceding early and his captain dismissed. Allardyce has had better halves.

36 min Livermore actually pauses, has a look mid-stretch, then tries introducing studs to shin, and shonuff, Atkinson returns to cancel the yellow and show a red. I know the game happens quickly, but that is some arch narishkeit right there.

35 min Martin Atkinson, the referee, is sent to have a look at the screen. Livermore is colossal trouble.

34 min Grealish takes the ball away from Livermore, who slides in and seems to attempt a horizontal stamp; he’s very, very lucky to get a yellow card for that, and VAR might see things differently. He’s high and making no effort to bother the sphere.

33 min Bertrand Traore has had a really good half, getting himself on the ball and picking good options almost every time.

31 min “After so many seasons watching Villa achieve 16th,” says Philip West, “it’s nice to see them having such a good start – and hopefully carrying on! I would suggest that Peaky Blinder Whiskey is the drink you need inside you to convince yourself that the ‘generic northern’ accent you have perfected at drama school will convince people you are a Brummie. Sadly, it doesn’t.”

I’m not sure what it’d take to convince anyone that generic northern was Brummie. Who do we think has the best Brummie accent? It’s got to be said that Grealish’s is pretty decent.

29 min West Brom are only one down. That’s pretty much all they can say about what we’ve seen so far.

28 min Here comes Grealisah again, jogging down the left before suddenly kicking into gear and swaying inside, away from Phillips. He then snaps a hard, low, Roy Keane-style pass into Watkins, whose first touch is a good one, moving the ball into his path and away from O’Shea, but Gallagher gets back well to insert a leg.

26 min Villa look really dangerous down their right, and this is why Grealish is better in the middle than on the left – he’s the one directing operations. Maybe he’ll score more starting out wide, but I’m certain he makes Villa a better team off the front.

24 min Grealish, who’s wandering all over, appears on the right to complete a triangle with Traore and Cash, the latter swinging over a decent cross that’s just a touch too high and hard for Watkins, giving it a go go Gadget neck. His effort flies high.

22 min Nice from Diangana who, fed by Phillips, turns adroitly to diddle Targett. But he can’t find a decent cross, and here come Villa again.

20 min Nice turn from ElGhazi, who gets away from Phillips, so Phillips bustles back to trip him, then complain when the ref has the temerity to notice. Free-kick Villa, down the left, which Traore swings over … but McGinn’s header flies over the top.

20 min On which point, how do we not yet have concussion subs, or mandatory subs when concussion is feared?

19 min Eeesh. Furlong and Targett contest a high ball and clatter each other. Both stay down and take treatment, but neither looks especially discomfitted.

17 min No West Brom fan will thanks me for saying this, but Villa are much, much better than they are. And as I type that, Grealish takes the ball away from Sawyers, who can’t help but leave a foot in.

16 min Grealish slides a pass in behind for Watkins, who’s pursued by Ajayi and winds up on the floor, “eased out of it” as they say. He wants a penalty, and it wasn’t a clean challenge, that’s for sure, but there wasn’t enough in it for it to be deemed a foul.

14 min Luiz snatches the ball from Gallagher ad sets another attack away, Traore leading the move. Villa keep it well, waiting for the opening, and eventually McGinn sees it, shifting the ball onto his left foot to lash a shot over the bar.

13 min Villa look a really useful outfit here – confident, quick and inventive. This could be a very long evening for West Brom.

11 min McGinn drives towards the West Brom box but O’Shea gets in the road, then Grealish wears a whack from someone or other – the first of many, I shouldn’t wonder.

11 min Grealish turns up at inside-right and looks to feed a ball into Watkins. If it gets there, he’s a turn away from being in, but Ajayi intercepts well.

9 min Better from West Brom, Furlong into Diangana, who touches on for Grant. His cross is alright too, lopping up off Targett, but Cash does just enough at the back post and Villa see the ball away.

8 min Lovely ball down the line from Grealish to El Ghazi, who crosses really well on the run. But the ball drops to Livermore, who clears in short order.

6 min West Brom are in intense trouble now. If they push the pace, Villa will devastate them on the counter.

Traore, in for Trezeguet, collects a second ball after Watkins wins a long punt. He shapes to backheel outside, earning himself a yard, then continues inside and curves a fine ball to the far post, where El Ghazi guides a find finish past Johnstone, cushioned home with the outside of his right foot, on the volley.

3 min Phillips will take and cunningly looks to go under the wall, which blocks his effort without difficulty.

2 min My word, competence is at a premium here. Martinez rushes to the edge of his box to field a long punt from Gibbs, and it’s so obvious that it won’t drop into the box but he catches it anyway. Free-kick West Brom, just outside the left edge of the box.

1 min Gosh, West Brom switch off at the back when Sawyers loses the ball, and Watkins nearly sneaks in behind before O’Shea clears up.

The players take a knee. Black lives matter – and black lives matter too.

Villa have won four away games this season and just off the top of my head, ought really to won at West Ham, though they lost. This is a really hard first outing for Not Inconsiderable Samuel.

I sort of like the day-glo ref’s top. Do I need an intervention?

Given West Brom’s formation – Sawyers in front of the back four, then Livermore (and the more attack-minded Gallagher) in front of him – my guess is that Allardyce will give his full-backs licence to, er, “bomb on”. He’s got to change something to get them scoring, because the problem isn’t just one of chance conversion but chance creation. And because they don’t have the class to just make it happen, weight of numbers will be extremely important.

Allardyce begins his first pre-match interview with a “Like I said”. Err… Anyway, he carries on by saying he’s not had time to change anything, but the team need to score more and concede fewer, which is a novel idea.

Dean Smith, meanwhile, says West Brom will be looking for “that new manager bounce” and that his team are in good form.He notes that Craig Shakespeare, one of his assistants, knows Allardyce well.

From a selfish point of view, I hope West Brom stay up, because the Vine pub offers one of the football’s greatest pre-match scrans.

He notes that if he can buy a player or two he will – obviously he then notes how good he is at doing that – and also says his team’s best performances this season have come against the better teams. They just need to start taking points off the ones around them.

“I turned most of the jobs down I’ve been getting from abroad and this country,” is how Allardyce begins his interview with BT. Never change, Bigsam.

The screen at the ground is advertising “Peaky Blinder Whiskey”. Does it make you dress like a buffoon or something? In fairness, some of us don’t need whiskey – or whisky – to do that.

West Brom’s midfield five will have to get through a lot of work tonight. Villa’s looks so nicely balanced, and I hope Grealish can settle into the number 10 position. I get why Dean Smith uses him on left – it means he doesn’t have to chase much and can wander into the play unchecked, but really you want him in the game as much as possible and that means he’s got to play centrally.

Here’s what happened the last time these teams met. Similar fun and needle please!

Villa look like a squad with a lot of upside. If they can hang onto their better players, even if the spending stops, their age-profile is young enough for a lot of organic improvement.

Elsewhere, Manchester United have beaten Leeds 6-2 in a wondrously rabid game that could easily have finished 12-6. See what Rob Smyth has to say about it.

So, Allardyce then. This looks a really tough assignment, because even assuming Sheffield United are doomed, West Brom still need to find two teams who are worse than them – and of those close by, all have at least three points more than they do. It’s not impossible, but I can’t see how they find enough goals to save them – one of the reasons the table looks like it does is that almost every team has really good attackers. I’m not sure that can be said of West Brom.

As for Villa, they look so much better this season than last. Having John McGinn back has made a huge difference – he’s a really good player who is also the soul of the side, and his quality gives so much more freedom to Jack Grealish. And in front of them, Ollie Watkins is a goal-threat that Villa missed last season – his bustling style and intelligent movement is enough to occupy to centre-backs, meaning more space for those around him. Oh, and Kortney Hause looks something too, while Douglas Luiz is back from injury, replacing Conor Hourihane; the other change is Traore for Trezeguet.

Sam Allardyce does the sensible thing in naming his first West Brom team, making a grand total of 0 alterations to the one which got a point at Man City in midweek. They’ll look to block up the middle of the pitch and use their pace out wide to create chances; I daresay they’ll fancy themselves from set-pieces too.

West Bromwich Albion (a continuity 4-1-4-1): Johnstone; Furlong, Ajayi, O’Shea, Gibbs; Sawyers; Phillips, Livermore, Gallagher, Diangana; Grant. Subs: Button, Robinson, Grosicki, Austin, Krovinovic, Ivanovic, Edwards, Peltier, Kipre.

Aston Villa (a regular 4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Mings, Hause, Targett; El Ghazi, McGinn; Luiz, Grealish, Traore; Watkins. Subs: Steer, Taylor, Hourihane, Nakamba, Engels, Guilbert, Elmohamady, Davis, Ramsey.

We all know the feeling: you get to that part of Sunday when the fear begins to set in. I’m sure what Christopher Moltisanti termed “the regularness of life” is part of it – getting back to work and such. But really it’s about answering that terrifying question: have I watched enough football this weekend?

Well this weekend, we know the answer is a resounding “Anglo-Saxon expletive”. If a derby match isn’t enough, which it absolutely is, we’ve got a derby match that was last played as a playoff semi-final, featuring the brilliant Jack Grealish and John McGinn, and marks Sam Allardyce’s return to save the sport that really ought to bear his name.

Villa have made a terrific start to the season and though they’ll still be preoccupied with staying up, the question now is how high they can finish. They’re scoring at a decent rate, but equally impressive is a defensive record superior to every club bar Man City. It’s true that they’ve played fewer games, but even so, they’ve been solid at a time when such behaviour has proved generally elusive.

West Brom, on the other hand, looked likely to go down before we got underway and nothing we’ve seen since has changed that. They’ve produced some decent moments, most particularly the midweek draw at the Etihad, but one win in 13 games is not a good look for any manager – however sophisticated his taste in music, wind-ups and general touchline posturing.

So Slaven Bilic lost his job to Sam Allardyce, a move at which it’s easy to laugh. But Allardyce – a man who gave the Premeer League Ivan Campo, Fernando Hierro, Jay-Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff – deserves more than to be bracketed with Pards, Curbs, Pulis and the lads. His tactical mind is keen, his use of data pioneering, and his love of needle affirming. So loosed your top button, pour yourself a pint of Lambrusco and settle right in.

Kick-off: 7.15pm GMT