West Brom 0-0 Aston Villa LIVE: Score and Championship semi-final play-off latest updates

WEST BROM (1) 0-0 (2) ASTON VILLA

West Brom XI: Johnstone, Gibbs, Bartley, Johansen, Phillips, Brunt, Rodriguez, Dawson, Hegazi, Holgate, Murphy

Aston Villa XI: Steer, Taylor, Tuanzebe, McGinn, Grealish, Hourihane, Abraham, Green, El Ghazi, Elmohamady, Mings

• Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings booked for deliberate handball

WEST BROM 0-0 ASTON VILLA

25: McGinn and Hourihane are getting involved more. That’s dangerous news for West Brom.

The Baggies look to launch a counter attack but Mings is in quickly on Rodriguez. It was a foul but no second booking given. Walking a tightrope…

22: If you didn’t know the result in the first leg – you would think Aston Villa need the goals. They are throwing bodies forward in search of the opener while West Brom have been limited to the off set-piece.

19: John Terry and Michael Appleton are arguing on the sidelines folks. Terry thinks Dawson felled El Ghazi on the halfway line but it was an obvious dive.

Wouldn’t like to stand between those fellas fighting – love to watch it though, obviously. PPV worthy.

16: Stupid! Honestly, Tyrone Mings just doesn’t learn. The centre-back flies in to meet a corner and blatantly uses his arm to turn it towards goal. Booked! 75 minutes to last on a caution will not be easy for him folks, I assure you.

13: El Ghazi and Holgate are having a right ding-dong down that right channel. The pair have clashed three or four times already with the latest incident appearing to show the Villa winger grab Holgate on the neck! Not seen by referee Chris Kavanagh.

10: Shot! Chris Brunt retrieves a loose clearance and decides to thump one in signature fashion. Miles high and wide of the target – we’ll call that a sighter to be generous.

8: Baggies fans screaming for a handball as El Ghazi nips ahead of Holgate inside the penalty area. Just seeing the replay now… yes, it did touch his arm. Perhaps a touch fortunate to get away with that.

5: I suspect there will be bookings aplenty this evening. So many flying challenges from every area of the pitch with Holgate and Grealish the latest culprits. No sight of goal from either side – all quite frantic still.

3: Nice start from the visitors, who are straight on the front-foot with El Ghazi driving towards goal. He reaches the penalty area and decides to head for the corner flag, only for Mason Holgate to concede the corner with a thunderous challenge. Cleared easily.

WEST BROM 0-0 ASTON VILLA

1: Y’all ready for this? Outrageous atmosphere at the Hawthorns. Supporters are waving blue and white flags singing their ‘allez, allez, allez,’ song over and over again.

Before I started this blog I looked at West Brom’s biggest search term. The answer? ‘Lyrics to allez, allez, allez song.’ Good prep, lads.

Moore ‘rooting’ for Baggies

19:50: Darren Moore says his sacking will be the “right decision” if they gain promotion to the Premier League.

“It’s good to see that work you’ve started continue to a point, and that’s why I’m rooting for them [West Brom] to do well this evening,” Moore told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“The chapter is closed there for me, but I can still wish the boys well.

“Getting up in the Premier League is where the club wants to be. If they go up, it [changing managers] was the right decision for all connected.”

Twitter round-up

David: I can’t remember a time when my stomach was in knots the way it is tonight, genuinely the most nervous I’ve been for a Aston Villa match ever.

Susan: Who cares about the hostile environment tonight, It’s all about getting the result we deserve.

Chris: “It’s only a game”….. is it f***!!!

Steady on, Chris. This is a family show!

The Dean…

19:40:  Speaking of play-offs – did you all see Referee Mike Dean going absolutely NUTS celebrating Tranmere’s play-off win over Forest Green? Late contender for highlight of the 2018/2019 season.

The window…

19:35:  LOVE this time of the year in the transfer window – especially for promotion hopefuls.

Literally every link has the caveat of ‘if they are promoted’ or my personal favourite of ‘reaching the promised land.’

Anyway I thought I would leave one here regarding Aston Villa star Jack Grealish, who could leave the club this summer if promotion to the Premier League is not achieved.

Sky Sports pundit Keith Andrews said: “Take Manchester City and Liverpool out of the equation, I think Jack Grealish goes into every other team in the Premier League.

“Whether he goes or not remains to be seen but he has to push himself. I know his love lies with Aston Villa but he has to play at the highest possible level.”

So… what’s the plan?

19:30: I suspect your Jose Mourinhos or Tony Pulis’ would sit back on the one-goal advantage but not Dean Smith – he’s playing to win. Or at least he says he is.

“I won’t be sat behind the ball as much as Albion were. My aim is to go and win the game. We’ll be looking to score more goals,” he told the club’s official website.

“I said before that the tie couldn’t be won in the first leg. We’ve given ourselves an advantage, but that’s all it is. We’ve got to go and perform at The Hawthorns now.”

The Omen…

19:25: The Omen was a film, wasn’t it? Ah yes, the 1976 movie starring Gregory Peck. Keeping those references nice and dated…

16 of the last 18 sides to win the first leg of a Championship play-off semi-final have gone on to progress through to the final, with the only exceptions being Derby last season (vs Fulham) and Leicester in 2012-13 (vs Watford).

Team News – Aston Villa

19:10: Dean Smith will see your one change – and raise you two!

Conor Hourihane and Andre Green replace Glenn Whelan and Albert Adomah.

Team News – West Brom

19:05: This shouldn’t take long. West Brom caretaker boss Jimmy Shan makes one enforced change with Jacob Murphy coming in for the suspended Dwight Gayle.

Business as usual elsewhere with Jay Rodriguez leading the line, flanked by Murphy and Matt Phillips.

Starting XI…

19:00: The wait is over… Jacob Murphy replaces the suspended Dwight Gayle.

West Brom XI: Johnstone, Gibbs, Bartley, Johansen, Phillips, Brunt, Rodriguez, Dawson, Hegazi, Holgate, Murphy.

Subs: Bond, Morrison, Townsend, Montero, Leko, Adarabioyo, Harper.

Aston Villa XI: Steer, Taylor, Tuanzebe, McGinn, Grealish, Hourihane, Abraham, Green, El Ghazi, Elmohamady, Mings.

Subs: Kalinic, Whelan, Jedinak, Davis, Kodjia, Hause, Adomah.

Team news klaxon…

18:58: Just a few minutes until we see the starting XI’s folks. Standby…

No Gayle, no problem

18:55: Not sure I’m buying this.

James Shan believes West Brom’s squad is strong enough to cope with the loss of top scorer Dwight Gayle.

Gayle, on loan from Newcastle, scored his 24th goal of the season on Saturday but was then shown a second yellow card late on.

His suspension sees him miss out tonight and will also rule him out of the final at Wembley, should West Brom get there.

“He (Gayle) is a massive player for us but Jay has been very productive and hasn’t played an awful lot of minutes this season in central areas,” said Shan.

“So it gives Jay the opportunity to get a more central role and he can be a big threat from there. It also presents opportunities for other people.

“We’ve got a big squad and a squad of high quality and the players play with a mentality that they’re waiting for their opportunity. So the opportunity will be presented for one individual.”

Twitter round-up

Aaron: Managed to distract myself all day… but now there is nothing to do but wait. Nervous isn’t the word. Come on you Villa boys!

Graham: Felt super confident when the first leg finished. Nerves have fully set in now. We’ve got ourselves into a great position but need to be on top form tonight. Come on Villa.

Richard: Hawthorns bound cmon Albion let’s do this!

Inspiration

18:50: Theresa May and West Brom caretaker boss Jimmy Shan have both decided to draw inspiration from last week’s Champions League insanity.

Not sure Brexit and a one-goal deficit to Aston Villa are in the same league – but I get the point.

“Those two games were teams that were out of sight. We’re only a goal behind,” Shan said. “There are lots of positives that we can take and build into the game on Tuesday evening and that’s what we will do.

“The boys are very positive that we can be a bit more creative and positive at times and we need to take the game to Aston Villa.

“That’s what they did for the first 15 minutes against us and we weathered the storm because the momentum and atmosphere in the crowd were very good.”

Evening…

18:45: Hello everyone and welcome to our LIVE coverage of West Brom vs Aston Villa.

I wrote an emotional farewell in my final Premier League blog on Sunday – little did I know I would be back to ‘entertain’ and ‘inform’ you just 48 hours later.

Still not mastered the use of air quotes but I think I’ve done a decent job there…

Anyway, we’ve got the amazingly entertaining yet loathsome Championship semi-final second-leg play-offs to entertain us tonight.

The Baggies trail 2-1 after imploding late on in the second half of Saturday’s first-leg clash at Villa Park.

I’ve just seen that Sky Sports are giving it a full 15-minutes coverage tonight. How generous… better stick with me!

WEST BROM vs ASTON VILLA – TEAM NEWS

Aston Villa face West Brom in the second leg of their Championship playoff semi-final clash – and Dean Smith has given an injury update ahead of the showdown.

Anwar El Ghazi and Tyrone Mings seemed to pick up minor injuries in the Villa Park showdown.

El Ghazi was forced off in the second half, while Mings received treatment for a hamstring problem.

However, Smith has assured Villa fans the duo will be ready to face West Brom on Tuesday evening.

He said: “Anwar was tired. It’s Ramadan at the moment, so we’re managing his diet and his sleep. So he was just tired. Tyrone Mings also pulled up with a bit of a tight hamstring.

“But we’ve got really good performance staff here who manage the players really well. They’ll be ready.”