Welcome to live text commentary of West Brom's Premier League encounter with West Ham at The Hawthorns.

West Brom threaten! Chris Brunt produces a dangerous cross from the left and West Ham are left to scramble the ball clear as Winston Reid heads away.

By the way, Sam Allardyce has only named six subs today as he is already down to what a former West Ham boss would describe as "the bare bones".

KICK OFF! West Brom kicking left to right. The two kits are a bit similar for my liking.

Allardyce has just had this to say, minutes before kick-off: "The team that will play today did very well last week and we are looking for maximum effort from each of the players. We need to get back on the scoring trail." Can the Hammers get back on that particular trail? We are about to find out.

A cheeky stat from Opta: West Ham have only managed five goals in their seven Premier League away matches since returning to the top flight. 'But Carlton Cole is leading the line this afternoon', I hear you cry. Fair enough.

The atmosphere is already building nicely at The Hawthorns ahead of kick off. Today's referee, you may or may not care to know, is Phil Dowd.

This is how the bookies see this afternoon's clash: West Brom (21/20) West Ham (11/4) Draw (5/2)

The last three Premier League meetings between the Hammers and the Baggies have ended as draws, but let's hope it will at least be an entertaining one this afternoon.

Both sides made very promising starts to the campaign, but have stumbled slightly of late. Both managers will be desperate for their sides to respond with a win this afternoon.

The teams are in - West Brom: Myhill, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Popov, Brunt, Morrison, Mulumbu, Gera, Odemwingie, Long. Subs: Daniels, Dawson, Tamas, Dorrans, Rosenberg, Lukaku, Fortune. /// West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, O'Brien, Reid, Collins, Noble, O'Neil, Nolan, Jarvis, Cole, Taylor. Subs: Raphael, Tomkins, Spence, Moncur, Lletget, Maiga.

West Brom have suffered three straight defeats, but remain just outside the top four and will be hoping to take in a point-laden Christmas. West Ham, meanwhile, have slipped into the bottom half of the table on the back of three defeats on four.