West Bromwich Albion v Everton: match preview

West Brom welcome Everton to The Hawthorns with both sides still searching for their first win of the season.

New Baggies head coach Alan Irvine comes up against his former club and he will be aiming to break his duck against his old employers.

Ed Chamberlin looks ahead to West Brom versus Everton

West Brom drew their opening two Premier League games against Sunderland and Southampton before losing 3-0 to Swansea last time out before the international break.

Everton were thumped 6-3 by Chelsea prior to the international break and Roberto Martinez will be expecting a response from his side, with Everton having conceded 10 goals in their first three games.

Everton have also surrendered leading positions in the games against Leicester and Arsenal to leave them with only two points so far this campaign.

Encounters between the two sides at The Hawthorns are normally tight affairs with seven of the last 10 league games at the ground ending in draws.

Team news

Ben Foster is set to hand West Brom a boost for Saturday's visit of Everton after returning following his thumb injury.

The goalkeeper withdrew from the England squad after aggravating an existing problem but trained with the Baggies on Thursday.

Joleon Lescott could make his debut after recovering from a knee injury while Georgios Samaras, Silvestre Valera and Sebastian Blanco may feature despite lacking match fitness.

Chris Brunt, Gareth McAuley and Graham Dorrans are available after shrugging off knocks suffered on international duty while Youssouf Mulumbu's hamstring injury and Victor Anichebe's hernia will

Everton manager Roberto Martinez will make a late check on midfielder Leon Osman and striker Samuel Eto'o ahead of the trip to The Hawthorns.

Osman (calf) was injured in a friendly earlier this week, while Eto'o has been hampered by a groin problem since the defeat to Chelsea before the international break.

Midfielder Ross Barkley (knee) is still a month away from regaining full fitness, but striker Arouna Kone (knee) and defender Bryan Oviedo (broken leg) are both edging closer to a return after playing in the behind-closed-doors game against Stoke in midweek.

Paul Merson's prediction

I’m doing this game on Soccer Saturday and there should be goals because Everton have let in 10 goals in their three games so far. Is Roberto Martinez going in for entertainment like he did at Wigan? At that club he wasn’t really expected to win every week, but Everton need to perform this year given the amount of money they’ve spent. They’ve been all over the place so far. West Brom were disappointing at Swansea and it could have been any score that day, so I’m going for an Everton win to kick-start their season.

BEN PREDICTS: 1-3