TONY Mowbray will attempt to plot the downfall of Fulham today with the Albion boss wary of the strength of the Cottagers’ midfield which has already seen them get the better of Arsenal this season.
Roy Hodgson’s side arrive at The Hawthorns on the back of three successive defeats to Blackburn, Burnley and West Ham in all competitions and without record £10million signing Andy Johnson, who is banned following his red card at the weekend.
But Fulham had previously beaten the Gunners, Leicester and Bolton in successive games and with the likes of Jimmy Bullard, Danny Murphy, Simon Davies and former Albion ace Zoltan Gera in their engine room it promises to be a tough afternoon.
Mowbray will decide on his team selection only after he has studied Fulham in detail.
He said: “Fulham are very good in midfield and we have to be aware of the way they play and how their wide players come in off the line.
“If I think we have to block the area in front of their strikers we will put a player in there, if I think they are vulnerable behind their midfield two we will put a player in there and if I think their centre-halves can be got at we will put two up front.
“That’s the way football is and I don’t look at it in terms if formations. I try to pick a team that will hurt the opposition.”
Mowbray’s spent yesterday watching DVDs of Fulham in action and will today take what he has learnt on to the training field.
He continued: “I will pick the team to do the best we can to hurt them and I will put certain people in certain areas to do that.
“For instance, I might want to start with Jonathan Greening or James Morrison wide on the left, which means that Marek Marek won’t come into the equation and Sherjill MacDonald might start wide on the right or behind the striker.
“Until I see how I think they might be vulnerable I won’t decide who is playing.”
